Coalition kicks social care reform into long grass

The wait is finally over for social care; now we know what the coalition’s plans are for the sector.

Looking at what the government has published – see here for the full rundown – it is a mixture of reform and continuing existing policy.

Firstly, as expected, Labour’s National Care Service plans have been abandoned. This is clear from the announcement that a new commission on long-term care will be established to report back within a year.

I’ve said before that the last thing the sector needs is yet another commission on the future of long-term care. We had that last year with the Big Care Debate, and others previously. Precisely what differences a new commission will find I don’t know. It just seems like a way of kicking the issue into the long grass and delaying some difficult decisions. Again.

Also, the lack of reference to disabled people in the plans – one mention under the Access to Work proposal – shows the main thinking of any reform is geared to older people.

But interestingly, it says the commission will consider several options; not just the Conservative plan for a voluntary insurance scheme, but also Derek Wanless’ partnership model, where the state and the individual both contribute to care costs.

This is significant because when the results of the Big Care Debate came out, the partnership model was most popular among respondents, and some third sector organisations had also publicly backed such a scheme. It also shows that the Tories may be backing away from their widely-derided option.

Elsewhere, the existing personal budgets and direct payments schemes are to be extended, giving more service users control over their care. This is no surprise – it fits nicely with the coalition’s plans to devolve more power to communities as part of their ‘Big Society’ reforms.

Despite rumblings that some social workers are losing faith with personalisation, the extension of it is generally good news for service users who want to take control over their care, and means no significant upheaval for adult social work departments.

Also, as expected, there will be greater integration of health and social care funding, to focus on preventative action, access to respite care will be improved and Access to Work will be reformed.

So, while there are positives in the announcement, the overriding sense is of disappointment. Firstly that disabled people seem to have been overlooked, and that the much-needed reform of long-term care has again been put back until at least next year. The whole sector has been crying out for reform for years, and another commission – to tell us what we already know – does not help. Why can’t the information in last year’s Big Care Debate be used to put together a coalition white paper on social care reform? Or is that too obvious?

A blog on the plans for families and children will also appear later.

Social care needs to be a priority for new government

Since the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition took power earlier in the week and started outlining its policies, one issue seems to have been conspicuous by its absence: social care.

As I have previously blogged, in the general election campaign social care seemed to disappear off the political radar, despite it being touted as a key issue in the run-up to it being called. Now post-election, it continues to be ignored in children’s and adults services; nowhere in the policy outline was social care mentioned.

Indeed, Michael Gove, the new head of the (swiftly renamed) Department for Education, has said in a letter to civil servants that education is the priority for the department, thus seemingly sidelining children’s services, although he added that this area will be strengthened and reformed, but didn’t elaborate on how.

Also, Andrew Lansley, the new health secretary, has spoken extensively of the plans for the NHS, while adult social care has garnered barely a mention.

This lack of attention is worrying; ask anyone within adult social care and they will say that reform – especially of the way it is funded – is urgently needed. Children’s services also need to be strengthened and supported. They can’t be left to drift as they have done for the past few years.

Leading social care organisations are also worried. Counsel & Care, a charity working with older people, their families and carers, have called for reform of social care to be made a priority by the new government.

Meanwhile, Carers UK’s director of policy and public affairs, Emily Holzhausen said; “We are deeply disappointed that the programme for Government published in the coalition agreement this week does not establish social care as a political priority.

“Clear plans must be brought forward as a matter of urgency, setting out a sustainable funding model for fair, universal, and transparent care services.”

However, despite the worries, I’m trying not to be too negative. It is still very early days for the government and we shouldn’t be too quick to judge – social care is a complicated issue and it may take more time to put together a policy.

Also, Paul Burstow, a Lib Dem MP with a history of championing issues such as social care funding, dementia and adult protection, has been appointed as a minister for state – the rung below cabinet – in the Department of Health. Having someone with in-depth knowledge of and a passion for the issues involved could ensure that they get the attention they need.

But until the government makes any policy announcements, as with everyone else blogging on this in the sector, everything is speculation and educated guesswork.

A final thought; in among all the speculation, there is one decision on social care that will have to be made soon – whether to pass Labour’s Personal Care at Home Bill. The Tories are against it, as are the Lib Dems, who would prefer to use the money for this to give carers extra short breaks, so I think we know what the result will be there.

Do you agree? Please let me know your thoughts below.

What will new government bring for social care?

After all the courting of the past few days, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have finally decided on a political marriage. But what will this mean for social care?

Now the dust is settling, here is a little of what is known, plus some conjecture and guesswork.

Firstly, it means that Labour’s plans for a National Care Service are dead. The Tories always opposed it, and the Lib Dems also had problems with it, so it’s a definite no-go. This means that social care will go back to square one, waiting again for the reform it so badly needs.

On the upside, it looks likely that plans for a set of national eligibility criteria for social care services, proposed by Labour, will be brought in as the coalition parties also both support it. This should end the ‘postcode lottery’ of unfairness in social care and can only be a good thing.

Now, things become less clear; we know there will be big public sector spending cuts in the Budget, which will probably be in June. Both parties have denied that it will hit frontline services, but councils will have to make some big savings and services could be hit – such as scrapping some services that are not perceived to deliver value for money – and eligibility criteria could be ramped up again.

I suspect that a new White Paper on the future of social care may be commissioned in the near future. The Liberals are in favour of (yet another) commission on reforming care funding, but the Tories aren’t, so action may come relatively quickly – we all know the problems in the sector, they just need to be addressed.

Whether the Conservatives’ stated plan for a voluntary £8,000 insurance scheme to pay for elderly residential care comes to pass remains to be seen.

Both parties were relatively light on detail about reform in their respective manifestos, but there were differing ideas, such as the Lib Dem idea of giving all carers one week of respite, so it is hard so say in which direction the government will go.

Also, remember there were the secret cross-party talks about the future of social care earlier in the year – which Andrew Lansley, the new health secretary, scuppered – could anything come out from that?

Hopefully in the coming weeks we will hear something more concrete about what will happen to social care. The sector needs reform quickly, so the coalition needs to work together to find the best solution – whatever that is…