Years of promises that came to nothing

THE social care crisis has been decades in the making.

Despite their promises successive governments failed to initiate meaningful policies.

Thirteen documents have promised social care reform in the past 17 years.

Social care is not free. In England anyone with assets over £23,250 must contribute to the cost.

The suggestion of a cap on personal care costs in England was put into legislation in 2015 but then abandoned.

It is understood proposals including a social care tax were raised.

However details had not been announced at the time of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s March Budget.

The social care green paper was meant to be a blueprint to tackle the problem but its publication was delayed no fewer than six times.

Theresa May promised the consultative document but Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock scrapped it in favour of “cross-party consensus”.

Thrilled

Boris Johnson promised a “long-term plan” but a year later he has not produced a detailed document.

Tony Blair set up a Royal Commission into social care in 1997 but nothing materialised.

David Cameron’s pledge to cap the cost of care at £72,500 was meant to be in effect in 2016.

But it was delayed until this year because it would have added £6billion to public sector spending.

In 2017 the Government said the planned cap would be scrapped while a green paper on long-term reform was put together.

It never saw the light of day. Before last year’s general election Mr Hancock told the Daily Express he would overhaul the social care system once and for all – after Brexit was solved.

He said: “I don’t want another commission, I don’t want another independent report...what we need to do now is bring politicians together behind a solution that can stand the test of time.

“I am absolutely thrilled [our] manifesto will state we will fix the social care crisis and end the injustice where people who need care have to sell their homes to pay for it.”