“We welcome the new rules to support the Care Act, in particular the strengthening of protection for families from having to pay unfair top-up fees for relatives’ care home costs. We also welcome the requirement for councils to improve information and advice services on care issues. However we think the government has missed an opportunity to liberalise the rules on who is eligible for social care, meaning that an estimated 235,000 older people will continue to be outside the system and need to either pay for care themselves, receive it from friends and families – or go without. This is shortsighted because many of those outside the care systems may as a result need to draw on health and other services earlier as a result”
23 October 2014