23.01.13
Cameron ‘foolish’ on £75,000 care cap
Prime Minister David Cameron is in danger of acting in an “extremely foolish” manner over the cap on costs of long-term care for the elderly, Labour has warned.
Andrew Dilnot has proposed a cap between £23,000 and £50,000 but recent reports suggest that the Government may be considering a higher cap, at around £75,000.
The shadow social care minister Liz Kendall claimed the human cost to such a system could be huge.
In a speech to the Society of Later Life, Kendall said: “Andrew Dilnot put forward a very carefully balanced package of proposals. The Government would be extremely foolish to squander the opportunity Dilnot presents to secure genuine, lasting agreement and wider public support. Labour is determined to put in place a better, fairer system for the future.
“It is vital that people understand the Dilnot ‘cap’ doesn't cover what the individual actually pays but to what their local council would pay – and the average local authority rate for a single nurse-care room in southern England was £470 a week in 2010-11.
“This means in practice the elderly person wouldn't reach the cap for over five years. The average length of stay for residents in a Bupa care home – which includes state and self-funders – is around two years, and for homes like those run by Partnership UK which are entirely self-funded – is around four years. In other words, the elderly resident would be dead before they hit the Dilnot ‘cap’.”
Ministers are due to announce their report in response to Dilnot’s proposals soon.
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Image c. Paul Toeman