Dilnot Commission told to reduce means-testing in care system

The Dilnot Commission on care funding has heard an unequivocal call to reduce means-testing by increasing the £23,250 savings threshold before people have to start paying for care in England.

The finding, from research conducted with nearly 200 people, also found strong support for a cap on the private costs of care to limit liability for individuals.

“There’s overwhelming opposition to the £23,000 threshold limit,” commission chair Andrew Dilnot told Community Care. “People felt it was just too low.”

However, the research found acceptance of the principle of making individual contributions for care and support was accepted, so long as people with high needs were protected from large costs.

Government needed to clearly tell people what they were entitled to so they could plan ahead, respondents said. There was also support to automatically enrol people in savings schemes to “nudge” them into planning for future care needs.

“My impression is that what people want most is a resolution and that there’s a pretty widespread feeling that it’s not unreasonable that people have to pay something but they don’t want to face losing everything,” Dilnot added.

“It feels as though there’s a real risk of an outbreak of consensus.”

The research comes ahead of Andrew Dilnot’s appearance at Community Care Live today, in which he will discuss the commission’s plans for reforming care funding, which will be unveiled in early July.

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