Care system needs urgent cash before reform, says Dilnot

The Dilnot commission today called for “additional public funding” to be pumped into the current care system before its proposed reforms come into force from 2014.

While the commission has not put a figure on current funding needs, this could be as much as £2bn a year, said Richard Humphries, senior social care fellow at the King’s Fund.

This would be in addition to the £1.7bn cost of implementing the commission’s proposals to raise the means-test threshold for accessing residential care from £23,250 to £100,000 and place a £35,000 lifetime cap on the total care costs faced by any individuals.

Humphries said the £2bn was needed to take into account current levels of unmet and make necessary changes ahead of any implementation of the Dilnot reforms, such as investing in preventive services.

Age UK has estimated that 800,000 older people in need of care and support in England are not in receipt of formal services, and that this figure could rise. Humphries said there was a need for “an extra quantum of money just to get to the right starting line for Dilnot”.

Dilnot commission member Lord Norman Warner, a former Labour health minister, said it was clear the pot of money for adult social care was “inadequate” and the government had to “devote greater resources to the adult social care system”.

Its report said that the £2bn a year allocated for adult social care from 2011-15 in last year’s spending review had not made its way into council budet settlements.

“The commission recognises the government’s commitment to social care in the latest spending review settlement; however, the impact of the wider local government settlement appears to have meant that the additional resources have not found their way to social care budgets in some areas,” it said. “We suggest that the resources made available locally for adult social care each year should be transparent.”

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