Long haul to free care under way (From The Northern Echo)

Long haul to free care under way

10:30am Thursday 19th November 2009 in

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A FUNDING row dogged yesterday’s free care for the elderly announcement – but that should not distract us from the care revolution to come.

By far the most significant Bill in a slimmed-down Queen’s Speech was a commitment to pay the care bills of 410,000 of the most vulnerable elderly people – those with serious dementia or Parkinson’s disease.

Charities immediately warned of a funding “black hole” because councils must find £250m of the cost from those mysterious “efficiency savings” that governments turn to in times of need.

That is a real question mark against the scheme – one of many doubts about a programme that will largely run out of time with a General Election just months away.

Nevertheless, the measure finally shines a spotlight on the long-neglected issue of how to prevent the elderly having to sell their homes when they move into residential care.

And it provides a taster for what will be a crunch battle at the election over the rival Labour and Conservative pitches for the ever more important “grey” vote.

It is more than a decade since Tony Blair rejected the conclusions of a Royal Commission to make personal care free for all – leaving it to be introduced in Scotland only.

There were good reasons for that – it was unaffordable and would have largely helped the better-off – but it left in place the misery of means-tested pensioners losing their homes.

At present, anyone with assets above £23,500 must meet the full cost of care, which means about three-quarters of those who need it. Councils can disregard the value of a person’s home in that calculation – or defer payments until after their death – but many do not.

Now, a decade on, Labour is finally creeping towards a solution to the problem, with its proposal for a “National Care Service” to mirror the collective security offered by the NHS.

The most likely option would see everyone paying up to £20,000 to be in a state insurance scheme, guaranteeing free care either at home, or in a care home.

The costs could be deferred until after death – allowing families to delay the painful sale of a much-loved home – while those with little or no assets would receive free care.

The Conservatives then came up with their own plan, offering free residential care to anyone who paid a one-off, upfront fee of £8,000 at retirement.

The sum is far lower than the average £26,000 cost of care – making “top-up” costs inevitable – and will create a perverse incentive to enter a residential home unnecessarily.

But it was a start.

Certainly, no one can deny either the looming crisis, as the population ages, or the heartache caused by the current “postcode lottery”.

The National Care Service cannot come until well after the election, but yesterday’s package – funding “black hole” or not – was a crucial first step.

IS anyone heartily sick of the way David Cameron is miraculously captured on camera, whether out jogging, working on the Tube, or – most shamelessly – tearfully laying a wreath at a graveside?

I am, which is why I laughed yesterday when Gordon Brown remembered the Tory leader’s famous Arctic expedition with a sledge, a pack of huskies and “a passing cameraman”.