Sir Andrew Dilnot has called Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to abandon changes to England’s care system a “tragedy”. Dilnot authored the proposals in 2011. He spoke to the BBC’s Today programme and criticised social care’s lack of attention, saying it has been “ignored” and “tossed aside.” Reeves claimed there was no money to implement the proposed changes, contributing to her decision to remove them from her cuts proposal.
The proposed changes would have included an £86,000 cap on the amount that disabled or elderly individuals would pay out-of-pocket towards their care. Once exceeding the cap, local authorities would pay out-of-pocket costs for those with high needs. The threshold for receiving council support to pay for costs would also be more lenient, with individuals with assets up to £100,000 qualifying, as opposed to the £23,250 current threshold. Presently, the care system suffers from underfunding and difficulties in hiring staff as a consequence of growing complexities and an ageing population.
Caroline Abrahams, the Director of charity Age UK, called the abolition of the care cap bad news, leaving elderly people “on their own” for the time being. Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt accused Reeves of preparing for future tax increases through the spending cuts passed on Monday. Despite the controversy, Reeves said her colleague Wes Streeting, Health Secretary, was cooperating with the sector to improve social care.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies cautioned that abandoning the cap could result in hundreds of thousands of pounds in expenses. There have been a handful of social care reform proposals in the past 25 years, with Dilnot’s coming nearest to implementation before ultimately being delayed. The new proposals were supposed to take effect in October 2023 but were shifted to October 2025, with councils utilising the resources intended for the planned modifications
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