Caring for our future

Book excerpt: The Commission on Funding of Care and Support, chaired by Andrew Dilnot, reported its recommendations in 2011 (TSO ISBN 9780108510847). Two key proposals were: (i) the Government should put a cap on the lifetime care costs that people face, and raise the threshold at which people lose means-tested support; and (ii) there should be universal access to deferred payments for people in residential care. The Government agrees that these principles should form the basis for any new funding model, but there remain important questions and trade-offs to be considered about how those principles should be applied in a reformed system: the level of the cap; changes to the cap over time; who benefits and who should pay? However, the Government will introduce a universal system of deferred payments for residential care (from April 2015), and will also introduce a national eligibility threshold for adult care and support in England (also April 2015). The Government is also committed to providing a clear, universal and authoritative source of national information about the care and support system. Chapters in this paper include: the need for funding reform; stakeholder views on reform; the Commission's recommendations and how the Government is responding; the principles of funding reform; the benefits and costs of the Commission's model; conclusions and next steps.