Governments missed chances to fix crisis for a generation

PROMISES to overhaul the funding of social care have been made by successive governments for decades. Sir Andrew Dilnot – a respected economist and academic who produced recommendations for David Cameron in 2011 – said yesterday: ‘There is a real chance that we have finally got there. If we have, it will be a day to celebrate.’

■ 1997: Tony Blair (pictured) tells Labour’s party conference: ‘I don’t want our children brought up in a country where the only way pensioners can get long-term care is by selling their home.’

■ 1999: A bill on modernising social services is followed by a royal commission which recommends all nursing and personal care in nursing or individual homes should be free.

■ 2000: Blair’s government publishes plans for personal care to remain means tested.

■ 2005: It commissions the Wanless Review on social care which recommends a ‘partnership model’ compromise.

■ 2008: The government launches a ‘once in a generation’ public consultation called ‘Why England needs a new care and support system’.

■ 2010: Gordon Brown publishes his plans for a ten per cent levy on inheritance tax, but promises to delay it for five years after opponents label it the ‘death tax’.

■ 2011: David Cameron’s new coalition government commissions Andrew Dilnot, who recommends an extension to means-tested support but with a cap on lifetime care costs.

■ 2012: Health secretary Andrew Lansley proposes greater funding through inheritance tax. Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne both reject the idea.

■ 2014: The Barker report calls for a review of wealth and property tax as a means of funding social care.

■ 2017: Theresa May’s election campaign is derailed after her plans for people to pay through the sale of family homes was labelled a ‘dementia tax’. In a U-turn, she promises to cap the amount anyone would have to pay, but insists ‘nothing has changed’.

■ 2019: Boris Johnson becomes PM in July promising on the steps of Downing Street: ‘We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared’. Five months later, he wins the election after promising not to raise income tax, VAT or national insurance.