Adult social care law reform white paper 'by end of the year'
Reforms to adult social care suggested earlier this month by the Law Commission will be included in a white paper by the end of the year, the government has said.
The Department of Health said the government recognised the need for reform after a coalition of organisations concerned with social care wrote to the three main party leaders to urge action.
Their letter, reported in the Daily Telegraph, said: “The reform of funding for older people's long-term care and for younger people with disabilities remains one of the most difficult and challenging policy issues confronting England.
“For over a decade, governments of all colours have struggled to agree an answer.
“But delay is no longer an option. As a number of recent reports have highlighted, the increased pressure on public finances is pushing an already over-burdened system to breaking point.
“And without further integration between health and social care services this picture could worsen. It is frail, older people who will suffer unless the issue is resolved.”
Signatory organisations included Bupa Care Services, the Local Government Association, Age UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
A DH spokesperson said: “The coalition government recognises the urgent need to reform the social care system - an aging population and rising expectations make the current system completely unsustainable.
“That is why the government acted quickly to establish the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, to make recommendations by July on how best to fund social care in future.
“We will bring together their findings with those of the Law Commission in a White Paper by the end of the year, to put in place a lasting and fair settlement for social care.”
The commission’s proposals included a new statute that would set out a single, clear duty to assess a person, with a low qualifying threshold for an assessment, but with a provision that a council could have discharged its duty if a person refused to accept an assessment, unless safeguarding issues arose.
The new statute would specify that an assessment must focus on the person’s care and support needs and the outcomes they wish to achieve.”
Age UK's charity director Michelle Mitchell said: “The current care system is in crisis. None of us want to live in a society where older people have to struggle on alone, isolated, scared and vulnerable for the last years of their lives.”
A copy of the Law Commission's proposals is available at the following link: http://www.justice.gov.uk/lawcommission/docs/lc326_Adult_Social_Care_Report_Summary.pdf
See also:
Making adult care law fit for the future
The Law Commission has published its final report on reforming adult social care law. Tim Spencer-Lane, one of the lawyers working on the project, outlines some of the key proposals.
