Bad politics can thwart good policies
The issue of social care, and how to fund it, has been left unresolved for too long. With each day that passes, ever more elderly people face an ever-greater range of often long-term, complex, costly-to-treat conditions. Yet despite a succession of commissions and reports proposing a host of solutions over the past 20 years, no government has been bold enough to overhaul the system to meet modern needs. The result is not intergenerational unfairness, a term which has been much bandied about recently, but pan-generational unfairness: the old are penalised because the care system is ill-adapted to their needs; the young because unfunded care simply gets added to the national debt, a burden which will fall principally on them.
So the Government of Theresa May is to be applauded for promising in last week’s manifesto to grapple with, and update, today’s chaotic system. Yet good intentions count for nothing if they are not well-introduced and well-implemented. And it is hard to think of three more sensitive issues for the Conservative Party than inheritance, homes and health. The party’s proposal of last week, under which individuals were liable for the cost of their care until their assets hit a “floor” of £100,000, created ripples of anxiety around all three. Wisely then, the Prime Minister has now complemented this “floor” with a “ceiling” – a cap on the financial impact of the new rules, though what this will amount to is not clear and will, say ministers, be subject to consultation.
Though the Government is straining every sinew to say otherwise, this is clearly a U-turn, performed under pressure. There is nothing necessarily wrong in that; it is good that the Government is not deaf to criticism and can respond. The greatest cause for concern is that a similar reversal occurred only two months ago after the Budget. Lady Bracknell’s adage about losing parents comes to mind. Then the about-turn was over planned rises to National Insurance (mooted, ironically, to pay for social care). In both cases, the policies in question were formulated in great secrecy. In both cases, they involved areas of critical importance. But in both cases, a climbdown was performed within days. The EU’S Brexit negotiating team will have taken note. Perhaps Downing Street should too, and let a little more light into its decisionmaking process, if only to ensure that bad politics don’t stand in the way of good policies.