How should we fund adult social care?
LAST week Parliament turned to issues other than Brexit for a change. It was good to be able to put the case for more money for Wokingham schools ahead of the Public Spending Review this autumn, and to begin the dialogue about paying for social care.
Both the Conservative and the Labour parties agreed that school budgets are too tight and that there needs to be some increase in money from the government. I expect there will some increases announced later this year.
The public finances are now much healthier, with the government generating more tax revenue than it planned and with the budget deficit
well below the spending on investment by the state sector. The government is now in surplus on spending year by year excluding capital items.
There is also multi-party agreement that we need to look again at how we run and pay for social care. I was a critic of the Conservative proposals in the Manifesto which the Prime Minister wisely dumped during the election in 2017.
The correspondence I received about those showed that there is a lack of information about the current system before we consider reform.
Today if an elderly person goes into a care home then they do have to pay the fees and charges from the money that comes from selling their home, unless their partner is still living in that home and needs it.
If a person needs care in their own home then there are some free services but of course a person pays their own living costs.
The state guarantees free health care for all, and pays the bills for social care and care home fees for people who have little savings to fall back on, but not for the rest who have private pensions and property.
The issue is do we think this system fair, and if not how should it be altered?
Some think less of a person’s capital should be drawn down to deal with social care costs.
Some favour moving to some type of pooled social insurance where the state caps the liability for care home fees or social care costs for any individual, but this would probably entail people who do not end up needing such care having to make a contribution to the general fund or paying an insurance premium.
I would be interested in hearing views on this, as it is going to be a big topic for debate this summer as the main parties consider reform, and ask themselves how affordable the current system is going to be as more people live longer and have more care needs.
I am not myself advocating a change of system, and do wish to see the present social care policy in Wokingham and West Berkshire better funded from government.