MPs call for Social Care Premium to fund personal care for all - Alzheimer's Society comments
Individuals and employers should pay a new contribution into a dedicated fund set aside to help pay for the growing demand for adult social care and implement funding reforms, with the current system ‘not fit to respond to the demographic trends of the future’, MPs have concluded.
Individuals and employers should pay a new contribution into a dedicated fund set aside to help pay for the growing demand for adult social care and implement funding reforms, with the current system ‘not fit to respond to the demographic trends of the future’, MPs have concluded.
A joint report out today by the Housing, Communities and Local Government and Health and Social Care Committees calls for the introduction of a ‘Social Care Premium’, either as an additional element of National Insurance or with the premium paid into dedicated not-for-profit social insurance fund that people would be confident could only be used for social care. Ahead of the Government’s Green Paper, the cross-party report highlights the urgent need to plug a funding gap before introducing wider reforms to raise extra revenue, with a long-term aspiration of providing social care free at the point of delivery.
Findings from the Citizens’ Assembly on Social Care will also be published tonight. Alzheimer's Society has given evidence for both reports.Sally Copley, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Alzheimer's Society, said:
“A million people will have dementia by 2021, all needing and deserving high quality care, so it’s positive to see Government Committees putting forward bold, large-scale solutions to meet this challenge.
“This report puts forward game changing ideas that could end the injustice of people with dementia enduring inadequate care and crippling costs. A social care premium is a fair way of raising much-needed money, which could be channelled through a dedicated Dementia Care Fund to help ensure everyone gets the right support.
“After decades of successive governments shirking the issue, the first Citizens’ Assembly on social care has shown how much the public want action, and the Committees’ inquiry must set the tone for radical reform across the board.”
