The state of social care: 27 years of promises

How to fund social care has once more moved into the political spotlight.

It is the turn of the year. The health secretary of the relatively new Labour government announces a commission to review the financing for long-term care of the elderly.

Can you name the year?

Sadly, there are two correct answers:

1997: in December of this year, Frank Dobson, the Health Secretary in Tony Blair’s new government, fired the starting gun for a Royal Commission report with the grand title of With Respect to Old Age: Long Term Care – Rights and Responsibilities. The report was published in March 1999 and its main recommendation – that the state should pay for personal care – was rejected by the government in July 2000.
2025: in January of this year, Wes Streeting, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in Sir Kier Starmer’s government, said he would be launching an independent commission into adult social care. An interim report is due in 2026 which “will identify the critical issues facing adult social care and set out recommendations for effective reform and improvement in the medium term”. The commission’s final report which, among other elements, consider “how to best create a fair and affordable adult social care system for all” is due by 2028.

Between 1997 and 2025, there were a raft of other commissions, white papers, inquiries and reviews. These have mainly focused on England, as from the late 1990s social care became the responsibility of devolved governments. Nevertheless, the four countries’ long-term care funding rules all have a similar structure and rely in some part on means-testing above relatively modest thresholds. For example, in England an individual with capital of over £23,250 is responsible for the full cost of their care.

England had been due to have a new care-funding scheme with a fee cap of £86,000 from October 2023. However, this was deferred until 2025 by the previous Chancellor and then abandoned by the current Chancellor last July on the grounds that the funding did not exist.

Given that the next election is due by mid-2029, realistically it seems unlikely that any reforms to care funding in England will be legislated for until the next decade. If you are concerned about how you will need to fund your or a loved one’s long-term care, early planning is the first step.

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