Government sets out terms of cash review

Sir Derek Wanless is among the members of a working group that will advise the Department of Health’s review of adult social care funding to feed into next year’s comprehensive spending review.

In a move that deflected some attention from Wanless’s report on funding for older people’s care, the DH this week announced the terms of reference for the review and membership of its working group.

The review will examine the “full picture” of adult care, not just that for older people. Its terms of reference include identifying who pays and should pay for social care, and long-term costs and cost pressures.

It is the clearest indication yet that the DH has fully grasped the financial pressures facing the sector.

Care services minister Liam Byrne (pictured) said the review was the third and final phase of the social care reforms started by the DH last year, following the white paper on health and social care and a reorganisation of the department to give social care more prominence.

The review would “make sure the money mirrors the mantra of personal control and integration set out in the white paper”, he said.

It has a demanding schedule, with plans to identify its “scale of ambition” by the end of April and initial proposals by June.

Byrne said one of the main issues would be to look at why there was not more pooled funding between social care and health.

Although there is no user-led organisation on the working party, Byrne said the interests of service users would be represented by organisations such as Age Concern.

A parallel, Treasury-led review of support for children and young people, which will also feed into the CSR, was announced last week in chancellor Gordon Brown’s budget.