Opposition Day Debate: Social Care

England

The following Library briefings look at proposals made by Conservative, Coalition and Labour Governments in recent years:

• Paying for social care: 20 years of inaction
• Adult social care: The Government’s ongoing policy review and anticipated Green Paper (England)
• Adult social care in England: Possible reforms?
• Social care: Government reviews and policy proposals for paying for care since 1997 (England)
• Social care: Adult social care: policy developments under the current Government (England)
• Social care: Announcements delaying the introduction of funding reforms (including the cap) (England)
• Social care: How the postponed changes to paying for care, including the cap, would have worked (England)

In terms of how individuals in receipt of social care are currently assessed for their eligibility for local authority funding support, the Library briefing paper Social care: paying for care home places and domiciliary care (England) provides more information.

The Library paper Social care: care home market – Structure, issues, and cross-subsidisation (England) discusses some of the wider issues and pressures faced by the sector, while the Four Seasons Health Care Group – Financial difficulties and safeguards for clients paper considers the issues being faced by one of the largest care home providers. Social care funding provides a brief overview of social care funding and links to further reading and parliamentary debates, having been published for the Westminster Hall debate on the issue held on 1 October 2019.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

For more information about the system elsewhere in the UK, see:

• the Welsh National Assembly’s briefing, Paying for adult social care in Wales: Debate and reform. The Welsh Government increased the amount of capital that a person can keep without having to use this to pay for their residential care: for more details see this press release from April 2019 and related factsheets.
• the Scottish Government’s webpages on Social care, Charging for residential care and Free personal and nursing care (available for those over 65 years old and assessed as needing care).
• the Northern Ireland Executive’s website on Your home, your assets and your residential care or nursing home fees. Citizen’s Advice also has a useful page on Social care and support, which considers the funding of domiciliary care in Northern Ireland. In New Decade, New Approach (2020), the new Northern Ireland executive committed to deliver reforms set out in the Delivering Together (2017) and Power to the People (2017).

Recent reports and press releases

Local Government Association (LGA), Opposition Day Debate: Social care, 20 February 2020

Nuffield Trust, Response to new UK points-based immigration system, 19 February 2020

NHS Confederation, Immigration announcement provides no obvious solution for social care, 19 February 2020

UK Government, The UK’s points-based immigration system: Policy statement, 19 February 2020

UK Government, Home Secretary announces new UK points-based immigration system, 19 February 2020

Health Foundation, New points-based immigration system looks to make our social crisis even worse, 18 February 2020

Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, Ombudsman reminds councils about care home top-up fees, 12 February 2020

Age UK, 2,000 older people’s requests for care turned down every day, 11 February 2020

Care England, Miles apart: The inadequacy of social care funding, 11 February 2020

NHS England, Local digital adult social care projects awarded share of £4.5 million, 11 February 2020

LGA, LGA responds to final Local Government Finance settlement, 6 February 2020

Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, Local Government finance settlement 2020 to 2021, 6 February 2020

Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Response to Welsh Government’s announcement on upcoming social care funding consultation, 4 February 2020

Welsh Assembly, Statement by the Minister of Health and Social Services: Update on the work of the inter-ministerial group on paying for social care, 4 February 2020, cc160-216

Nuffield Trust Comment, A public policy blind spot? The possible futures of the social care workforce, 4 February 2020

Migration Advisory Committee, A points-based system and salary thresholds for immigration, January 2020

LGA, Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2020/21, 20 December 2019

UK Government, Queen’s speech 2019: Background briefing notes, 19 December 2019, pp37-8

Scottish Parliament’s Health and Sport Committee, MSPs to carry out inquiry into the future of social care, 19 December 2019

Age UK, Social care has led to 2.5 million lost bed days in the NHS between the last election and this one, 5 December 2019

Directors of Adult Social Services, How to sort out social care- Once and for all, December 2019

Nuffield Trust, Social care: The action we need, 28 November 2019

Institute for Fiscal Studies, Councils will need billions of pounds in additional funding to meet the rising costs of adult social care, 11 November 2019

King’s Fund, What’s your problem, social care? The eight key areas for reform, 5 November 2019

Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Short-term funding and lack of strategy placing intolerable burden on NI health services, 2 November 2019

Department of Health and Social Care, Next phase of adult social care recruitment campaign begins, 16 October 2019

Welsh Audit Office, The “front door” to adult social care, 12 September 2019

UK Government, Spending round 2019: What you need to know, 4 September 2019

Age UK, Charity says a big cash injection at Wednesday’s spending review is imperative to avert the risk of collapse, 2 September 2019

Prime Minister’s Office, Boris Johnson’s first speech as Prime Minister, 24 July 2019

House of Lord’s Economic Affairs Committee, Act now on social care crisis, Lords report tells Government, 4 July 2019

All Parliamentary Group on Adult Social Care, The future of adult social care, 4 July 2019

LGA, One year on: The LGA green paper for adult social care and wellbeing, 3 July 2019

Nuffield Trust, Change or collapse: Lessons from the drive to reform health and social care in Northern Ireland, July 2019

Further reading and debate material can be found on the Social Care Funding Debate page (27 September 2019).