Budget buzzword bingo

The most heavily trailed item in this week’s Budget has been more money for social care. Our Director of Policy and External Relations, Simon Bottery, takes a look what the Chancellor may include in Wednesday's speech.
The latest reflections, thoughts and stories from Independent Age.
The most heavily trailed item in this week’s Budget has been more money for social care. Our Director of Policy and External Relations, Simon Bottery, takes a look what the Chancellor may include in Wednesday's speech.
Our Director of Policy, Simon Bottery, argues that the Minister for Communities, Health and Care needs to look a little harder at the question of unmet need.
The care and support older people receive is at the top of the current news agenda. Just last week, BBC1’s Panorama went undercover to expose a culture of endemic neglect but also shockingly unsafe care in a group of homes in Cornwall.
They say it is a sign of madness to do the same thing over and over but expect a different result. So should not those of us who care about social care and older people’s services rethink our influencing strategy? After all, even though public figures were queuing up to say more money is needed for social care the Autumn Statement pointedly failed to deliver it.
If you or a loved one lives in a nursing home, changes to NHS Funded Nursing Care could mean you’re owed a rebate of around £600. Make sure you claim it.
Simon Bottery, our Director of Policy and External Relations, reflects on a recent visit to new specialist dementia care service EachStep Blackburn.
The rationing of care means we need an honest debate about what the social care system can offer.
Guest blogger Clenton Farquharson MBE, from the community interest company Community Navigator Services, gives a very personal account of why a care quality strategy is important. He writes as someone who needs care and support and looks at the difference it would it make to himself and others.
As an adviser at Independent Age, Caroline often hears from older people and their families struggling to pick the right care home for themselves or a loved one. Here she talks about some of the difficulties they face and why she supports our campaign to make sure people have the information they need to make this important decision.