Government Care plan would hit council tax

The major political parties nationally are jockeying for position with regard to care in older life…

The Goverment are proposing a National Care Service and Conservatives are keen on a voluntary insurance payment which then covers residential care costs for those who take out the policy.

‘Grey Power’ is now catching the interest of national political parties 

And because I’m responsible for social care and community health in Staffordshire I’ve thought long and hard about this but knowing what to do with the country’s finances in such a poor state is difficult.

The current law means people who have savings or equity in property of more than £23,000 have to pay for care, mainly in older age, whilst those who haven’t got savings or equity in property get free care. My principles firmly support making sure nobody slips through the ’safety net’ so the latter is fine but I also believe in personal responsibility and rewarding in some way people who make provision to look after themselves.  

So, the current arrangements don’t sit comfortably with me because those who’ve planned and saved gain no advantage and often simply end up selling their house to pay for care. Staffordshire now has a pretty good deferment scheme on the latter meaning individuals can put the cost of care against the eventual sale of their house rather than having to take immediate action.

But where’s the real incentive to save and plan if you lose what you have built up eventually? It really is a tough one. In Staffordshire I’d like to substantially raise the threshold from £23k but I’ve had a stack of work done on that idea and I just can’t get it to be affordable without hitting council tax payers very hard.

Back to the national proposals. The Tory plan makes some sense because for an £8k premium people can secure the cost of residential care without having to sell what they’ve built up. So that certainly does reward personal responsibility. The devil is in the detail of it because efforts over the last few years to try and help people, who want to, stay in their own home are right for most and this suggests pushing more people back into institutionalised care. And more detail on how the finances work out on this, I hope, will be made available soon because an average care home place would use £8k up in five to six months.

But the Government’s National Care Service proposal really is spin and grandeur. I’m struggling with how it’s possible to link that proposal in any way to the principles of the NHS which is clearly what they are trying to do. And the problem with their plan is very well detailed.

It really, really doesn’t add up. They’ve used ‘best case snerario’ figures in just about every projection or clculation. My financial analysis people in the Department are hugely capable and their very detailed calculations and projections are in line with other Counties who have also done the same piece of work independently of Staffordshire. 

The bottom line is that the National Care Service proposals, as they stand, would instantly put council tax in Staffordshire up by an extra 2%. And, as I say, that is confirmed by experts in other Counties as well as completely independent commentators.

That, just as we as a new County Administration are trying deperately to keep council tax as low as possible.

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