The new Care Act means we can all apply for support as we get old
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Version 0 of 1. Finally we’ve arrived. Seven years after the Law Commission embarked upon a review of what its then chairman called a “hodgepodge” of almost 40 statutes governing the care and support of older and disabled people in England, dating back as far as 1948, the Care Act is taking effect. To be accurate, 75 of the 80 sections of the act are coming into force. The most contentious bits, implementing a watered-down version of the Dilnot reforms of the funding of long-term care with introduction of the principle of a cap on personal liability, will not apply until this time next year. But there’s no doubting the significance of the changes happening today. Not before time, the act sweeps away the last remaining statute from the Beveridge blueprint for the welfare state, the long outdated National Assistance Act, and brings a welcome clarity to legislation for professionals who have until now had to wrestle with perhaps half a dozen – sometimes even more – separate laws, directions and sets of statutory guidance when dealing with individual cases. More important, the act represents a watershed in the slow transition of social care out of a crisis-service mindset, geared to stepping in when people become dependent, into one that thinks first and foremost about keeping people independent deferring for as long as possible the need for intensive care and support. Thus local councils have a new duty to promote people’s wellbeing, a concept defined very broadly to include dignity, health and participation in work, education and training. Other new duties include provision of advice and information about care and support, development of the local care market, promotion of integrated services and meeting the needs of family carers. New services for carers are expected to be the main cost of the measures in 2015-16. Anyone may request an assessment, regardless of their means, and many of the 460,000 who fund their own care will do so In a further, seminal shift, there will now be a national eligibility threshold for state support, ending the practice of each council setting its own. While critics say the single threshold has initially been set too high – roughly equivalent to “substantial” needs under the old system – the change means that henceforth it is national government that decides who gets care and support under a system simply administered locally. Whether there is sufficient funding for this local administration is another matter. The outgoing coalition government has distributed a total of £470m for the reforms in the new financial year, which councils fear is not enough. Some £108m of the cash is to underwrite the new “deferred payment” scheme, by which councils will enable homeowners to postpone payment of long-term care costs until after their death, and so avoid selling their properties during their lifetime. An identified £175m of the remaining money is to fund extra assessments of the needs of older and disabled people and carers. Anyone may request an assessment, regardless of their means, and it is anticipated that many of the 460,000 people who fund their own care will do so to establish if their needs are eligible and if they therefore qualify for the £72,000 care-cost cap. Although the cap, together with much more generous capital allowances, does not apply until 2016, councils are being urged to encourage people to get assessments this year to avoid lengthy queues next spring. That may be a faint hope, given people’s tendency to leave things to the last minute and their likely thinking that the longer they do leave it, the better their chances of meeting the needs threshold. In the end, this opening up of the social care system to people of all means will surely prove the most important effect of the Care Act. All of us are now potentially eligible for state help beyond the cap; all of us may request an assessment of our needs; all of us are entitled to information and advice. No longer can it be said that social care is a service just for poor people. |