Notts social care director welcomes reforms to care funding

However, opposition politicians have hit back, fearing changes to the formula and increases to caps on care funding will ‘impact poorer residents disproportionately’ and only benefit people with more money in the bank.

The Government announced its planned reforms to social care funding earlier this year, which will see £3.6 million used to change the formula for people paying for their care.

This includes introducing a cap on care costs up to £86,000 and raising the threshold from £14,000 to £20,000 for when people’s assets are taken into account in funding their provision.

It comes as part of the new Health and Social Care levy on National Insurance, which will come in from April and begin supporting social care from 2023.

It will come in the form of a 1.5 per cent rise in NI, specifically ring-fenced for the NHS and social care.

Melanie Brooks, council corporate director for adult social care and public health, believes the reforms are a step in the right direction.

She said the reforms will support the poorest people and also help those on disability support who, she says, regularly have to fund care costs from state benefits.

She said: “People will be better off, there’s no doubt.

“There will be a cap, so you only have to bear that cost for a certain amount of your wealth and that’s most certainly an improvement.

“The other significant bit which keeps being missed is what we call ‘the floor’, which is a minimum income guarantee.

“For many people, particularly people who are working age, but have disabilities or mental health issues, they start to contribute to their care and that includes a contribution to care out of mobility or disability benefits.

“The minimum income guarantee, which sets out how much money you get to keep before you start paying, hasn’t increased with inflation for a very long time.

“So as well as the more publicly talked-about reforms on the care cap, we also have the floor increase.

“That’s good news for the poorest people, including those on state benefits with a disability and some of the most disadvantaged people who draw upon social care.”

Change

However, it has been suggested by some that the reforms may ‘not live up to their marketing’ and the cap will ‘help relatively few people’.

This is echoed by opposition politicians, who believe the changes don’t do enough to support the poorest residents.

Coun Steve Carr, a Liberal Democrat, said: “The reality is things need to change.

“However, the proposed changes impact our poorer residents disproportionately.

“Residents who live in a £100,000 house in places like Ashfield will pay the same as those living in £1m properties and we say that’s not fair.

“Whilst we welcome moves to change the way people pay for care, the richer should pay more – that is a fair system and one we are pushing for.”

When the Government announced the reforms, senior politicians including the Prime Minister stated people would not have to sell their homes to fund their care under the new changes.

Gillian Keegan, care minister, said: “The measures will mean transformational change for social care.”

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