In the Queen’s Speech delivered to parliament this morning (October 14), the government confirmed it will bring forward proposals to reform adult social care, which includes setting out legislative requirements.
Documents released alongside the speech detailed a 2 per cent precept relating to money collected through council tax but no further detail was given on what would be included as part of the proposals.
Previously a number of policy ideas such as a Care Isa, a cap on lifetime social care charges and tax-free withdrawals from pension pots were reportedly under consideration but these were not mentioned this morning.
The social care industry is now calling on the government to lay down its plans in this area as a priority, arguing reform has been years in the making.
Jane Ashcroft, chief executive of not-for-profit care provider Anchor Hanover, said: “It is exasperating to see government once again pay lip service to social care, and failing to meaningfully address the deepening crisis.
“Social care services cannot continue to be a victim of political turbulence – hundreds of thousands of older people have already suffered after years of inaction and broken promises.
“In the next 15 years, 4.4m more people will be aged 65 or over. We cannot wait any longer to secure a positive future for today’s and tomorrow’s older generations – we demand government finalise its ‘clear plan’ to reform social care as an immediate priority.”
Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, agreed the sector had been “primed for reform” for an ”eternity”.
Ms Griffin said: “It has proved a subject of hot debate amongst politicians and hit boiling point in the latest party conference season with debates on the topic dominating on all sides.
“Pledges to resolve the issue have been two a penny, but an elusive green paper has yet to materialise. It appears that we have waited for so long that we are now going to bypass that stage altogether, with parties promising to deliver concrete proposals.
“Whatever the policy, one of the central pillars of the government’s reform needs to be an awareness strategy.”
But others were not surprised by the lack of anything concrete in the government’s announcement.
Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group, said: “No surprises on social care in today's Queen's Speech, we expected it to get a mention but were not expecting anything tangible.
“That's exactly what we got - a generic commitment to bring forward ‘proposals’ and a recap of announcements already made.”
Similarly Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group, said: “Very little was said on social care and all that the current government seems to be doing is repeating what previous governments have already said.
“The Queen’s Speech was very disappointing as I hoped this time would be different due to the prime minister setting out his commitment to social care reform in his general election bid.”
Boris Johnson had vowed to fix the social care crisis as one of his first actions in office in July.
Meanwhile it has not been confirmed whether the long-awaited green paper, which was due to set out a number of policy ideas for social care, will still be published or whether the legislative changes proposed today will take precedence.
New bills will be presented in parliament in the next few days as MPs will debate the proposals. There is no guarantee they will make it into law however, as the government has no working majority and will rely on MPs from other parties to back it.
Health secretary Matt Hancock previously blamed the delay in social care reform on a lack of cross party consensus as he said the government has not yet been able to find a way to get the "sort of cross party support that is hugely helpful for projects like this".
There have also been calls for a General Election, which could see any incoming government change the social care proposals entirely.
amy.austin@ft.com
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