Press Release
Statement on the imminent announcement on social care funding
11 February 2013
Michelle Mitchell, Charity Director General of Age UK said:“Social care for too long has been the Cinderella of political priorities, hidden away and ignored. If the media reports are correct, tomorrow the Government will take a welcome step towards bringing older people fairer access to care support when they need it most.
“Age UK has always supported the principle of a cap because this protects against limitless care costs and is fairer for those who have saved, but we are disappointed that that the level of the cap looks likely to be much higher than the amount recommended by Andrew Dilnot: a lower cap would benefit more people and make it easier to plan ahead.
If the media reports are accurate, more encouraging is the raising of the current miserly upper means test threshold to a fairer figure. Age UK believes it would be a compassionate gesture to introduce this immediately to help those currently seeing their last savings disappear into care costs.
“However the most important test will be how much difference these proposals make to older people's lives and we do not yet have enough detail to know this for sure. Not least of all whether these proposals will come into effect quickly enough to help hundreds of thousands of older people struggling to get the care they need today.
“Now we seem to have a decision on the Dilnot recommendations the Government must urgently address the greatest threat to our social care system – the estimated 830,000 older people and those caring for them struggling to cope alone without the care support they need. Tomorrow's announcement will be just one part of the solution.”
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