The Minister of State, Department of Health (Norman Lamb)
Today we are publishing a significant consultation that looks at the practical detail of implementing our reforms to what and how people pay for their care and support.
We have published plans for a new fairer funding system that will help people to more easily prepare for the cost of their future care needs, and will provide financial protection for people’s homes and savings.
The proposals are based on sweeping reforms to how care is paid for to give more certainty and peace of mind over the cost of old age or living with a disability. They will end the unfairness of unlimited care costs and ensure everyone gets the care they need with most support going to those in greatest need.
From 2016 the reforms will deliver a new cap of £72,000 on the costs of meeting eligible needs, additional financial help for people of modest wealth with less than £118,000 in assets including their home and, from 2015, a scheme to prevent anyone having to sell their home in their lifetime. The consultation confirms details of the plans including:
for people entering a care home, their property will not be included in the assessment of assets if a partner or dependant still lives in the home. In this case if a person has assets of less than £27,000 (excluding their home) they will qualify for financial assistance; and
the cap is based on the total cost of meeting someone’s eligible needs, not just their own contribution, an individual’s payments are added to those made by the local authority when measuring progress towards the cap. This means around two-thirds of people who reach the cap will have contributed less than £72,000 towards their care costs.
The consultation looks in detail at the various elements of the reforms seeking people’s views to help us deliver a fairer and more sustainable care and support system in local areas.
Reforming how and what people pay for their care intends to bring a number of benefits. Currently, a fear of high costs and lack of good information and advice can cause people to delay getting the care they need, and therefore see their needs escalate more quickly. This leads to more people (and their families) seeking and organising care in a crisis situation and risking higher care costs, due to their condition having deteriorated more rapidly.
The reforms will set some limits around how much people can expect to pay for their care, making it easier for them to plan and therefore putting them more in control. It will also protect more of what people have worked and saved up for during their lives.
The consultation launched today is about working out the practical detail of what needs to happen to make the changes to payment of care costs a reality. Reforming what and how people pay for their care will involve significant changes to how local authorities operate currently. We are therefore keen to hear people’s views on how these changes to the funding system should happen and be organised locally, to help us deliver a care and support system that is sustainable and fairer for everyone.
Consultation proposals include:
how best to provide people with information and advice, including on how to pay for
care and support, to help everyone plan for the future;
annual “care account” statements to project when someone will reach the cap or qualify for additional financial support;
the option of joining a not-for-profit “deferred payment” scheme where the local council pays people’s residential care fees and the person is able to repay from their estate, allowing them to keep their home during their lifetime;
possible new products from the financial services sector who are responding to these reforms by looking at how pensions and expanded life or health insurance could help some people plan;
principles behind the level of the cap for people aged under state pension age who have eligible needs; and
the process for providing redress and resolving complaints.
The Government have provided £335 million to local authorities in 2015-16 to cover the costs of implementation of the cap and the requirement to offer deferred payments for residential care. This includes funds that will enable local authorities to begin assessing people’s needs for care and support around six months before introduction of the cap, if they choose to do so.
The Department of Health, Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Social Services (ADASS) have committed to work in partnership on a joint programme to ensure successful and sustainable delivery of these reforms.
The consultation will run from 18 July until 25 October.
“Caring for our future: Consultation on reforming what and how people pay for their care and support” has been placed in the Library. Copies are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office.