Have this week's events brought good news or bad for older
people?
By Rebecca Law, Media and PR Officer
This was a good week for social care as
cross-party talks began, with the aim of reaching a consensus on
care funding. The talks have been a long time a-coming and there is
no guarantee they will lead anywhere. But the fact that they are
taking place at all represents a major breakthrough and must
increase the likelihood of genuine reform of our social care
funding system. We have uprated our Dilnot-o-meter to reflect
this.
The talks were preceded by reports in the Daily
Telegraph earlier in the week that older people could be made
to pay up to £60,000 for their care in old age. Interestingly,
online forums were alive with anger at the news. But while the
figure may, seen starkly, seem shocking, what readers perhaps
failed to realise is that there is currently no limit on the costs
that individuals can incur paying for care in later life. And
around 20,000 people are forced each year to sell their homes in
order to cover the costs.
However, the £60,000 figure is close to double the £35,000 cap
proposed by Andrew Dilnot last year and well outside the range
(extending to £50,000) that Dilnot said would be reasonable. While
it would still help remove the fear people currently feel about
meeting care costs as well as enabling insurance firms and pension
providers to develop financial products to help people protect
themselves against care costs, it may be a step too far away from
acceptability. It was swiftly refuted by Paul Burstow who said the
matter was still under consideration before the government's white
paper in April.
Bizarrely, Burstow did then go on (cue horrified, sharp, intake
of breath) to deny any funding gap in the social care system. The
money the government was putting in, combined with local authority
efficiency gains meant the funding gap had been closed, he said. If
councils failed to pass the money on, that was their choice. We
don't think this argument holds water from a minister responsible
for social care. So a bad week for Burstow.
It may turn out to be not such a good week
either for lone older homeowners, as housing minister, Grant
Schapps, announced plans for the state to help older people
downsize, to allow councils to rent their homes to local families
and help ease the nation's housing crisis.
Local authorities would, under the plans, cover the costs for
moving, renovation and financial advice. They would also take over
the responsibility for maintaining and renting the vacated
properties, passing back any profit to the homeowner to use to pay
for their new accommodation.
The concept is a good one as long as it's about helping
an older person to make the best decision about their housing
options and retain their independence. But starting the project
with the primary aim of freeing up housing is wrong. It runs a
serious risk of coercing older people into house moves they do not
want, with all the consequences that involves, such as the physical
upheaval and stress of moving, not to mention moving people away
from their social networks. Older people get a raw enough deal in
society without being made to feel they no longer deserve to live
in the home they have worked hard to pay for.
