What now for deprivations of liberty?
What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT |
National eligibility criteria and portable assessments should be introduced to ensure greater consistency and fairness in adult social care, the Dilnot Commission on Funding of Care and Support has recommended.
In its Fairer Care Funding report, the Commission also called for the government urgently to develop a new, more objective assessment scale as the basis for the future system.
The report said the current adult social care system was not fit for purpose and needed urgent and lasting reform. Its other key recommendations include that:
The report urged the government both to implement its reforms and ensure there is sufficient, and sustainable, funding for local authorities. “Local authorities will need to be able to manage existing pressures as well as the new requirements resulting from our reforms,” it warned.
“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,” the report said.
It added that the resources made available locally for adult social care each year should be transparent. Any periodic review of local government financing should also have regard to the importance of the sustainability of funding for adult social care.
The Commission, led by economist Andrew Dilnot, said its proposals would cost the state around £1.7bn. The report also calculated that no individual would lose more than 30% of their assets, and predicted that new financial services products would emerge to offer people further protection of their assets.
In a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Health Secretary, Dilnot argued that extra state resources would be required in this area if greater private resources were to be unlocked.
“Without the state taking on some of the risk, individuals will be unable to use their assets effectively and the involvement of the financial services sector will remain limited,” he said.
The report outlined how demand for social care is significantly outpacing expenditure, with the gap increasing year on year. Dilnot said the issue of funding for adult social care had been ignored for too long.
“We should be celebrating the fact we are living longer and that younger people with disabilities are leading more independent lives than ever before,” he said. “But instead we talk about the ‘burden of ageing’ and individuals are living in fear, worrying about meeting their care costs.
“The current system is confusing, unfair and unsustainable. People can’t protect themselves against the risk of very high care costs and risk losing all their assets, including their house. This problem will only get worse if left as it is, with the most vulnerable in our society being the ones to suffer.”
Dilnot claimed that under the Commission’s proposed system everybody who gets free support from the state now would continue to do so and everybody else would be better off.
“Putting a limit on the maximum lifetime costs people may face will allow them to plan ahead for how they wish to meet these costs,” he argued. “By protecting a larger amount of people’s assets they need no longer fear losing everything.”
A copy of the full report can be downloaded here.
Philip Hoult