Adult social care green paper published

Any future adult social care system needs to balance national consistency with local flexibility, the LGA has said in response to the government’s green paper on the issue.

The long-awaited paper was published this week and presents two options for a future system: a part-local/part-national model and a fully national model.

The LGA believes councils must be central to any future social care system and is calling for a part-local/part-national system with a single assessment of needs and means. This would be applicable anywhere in the country, but the services and their cost would be decided locally.

Council leaders oppose any attempt to nationalise the care service, which would undermine councils’ flexibility in commissioning and designing care services around the needs of the user; hamper councils’ ability to join up social care, health, housing and other services; and reduce accountability by removing decision making from democratically elected councillors.

The LGA has long been calling for reform of the social care system, which it says is unclear and unfair.

Insufficient funding, increased demand from an ageing society and rising costs is already placing a huge strain on adult care.

Health secretary Andy Burnham said radical reform was needed to end the “cruel lottery” of the current system which sees some older people selling their house to pay for care, while others receive it for free.

The ‘Shaping the future of care together’ paper, which is out for consultation until November, sets out three potential funding models based on the government funding a minimum portion of every individual’s care package.

The three models are: individuals paying the remainder of the cost; or taking out voluntary insurance for the remainder; or compulsory insurance.

Cllr David Rogers, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: “Balancing national consistency and local flexibility is key to the future of a successful system of adult care and support.

“Democratically elected local government must be able to decide with individuals what form support should take, within a national framework and an adequately funded system.

“Reform will take time but the difficult decisions that need to be made must not allow this crucial issue to slip down the agenda nor can the real funding pressures that are facing councils today be ignored.”