People with care needs should dictate how generous the social care system is and who it supports

• Andy Kaye Guardian Professional, Tuesday 8 July 2014 09.46 BST
• The Department of Health consultation is nearly 1000 pages long – but is still vitally important.
• Unless a high-speed railway is about to be directed through your garden, why would a member of the public take the time to respond to a government consultation? Take the consultation from the Department of Health on the rules affecting who qualifies for care and support, which was published in June. All a bit boring, isn’t it? It’s hundreds of pages long and full of legalese.Wrong.It does run to nearly a thousand pages. It has been pored over by the government lawyers at Richmond House.

  But it is not boring. In fact, it’s one of the most important consultations for years. At Independent Age, however, we worry that not enough is being done to publicise it. There is a real danger the only people who are responding will already be known to government. Local government will respond no doubt – and rightly so. Charities will be doing their best to present a powerful case for more funding so adults with significant care needs can receive state-funded care well into the future.

  Which begs the question – whose consultation is this anyway? Where are the voices of older and disabled people, and what more can we do to ensure people with care needs are directly influencing the consultation outcome?

  The Care Act 2014 is a welcome piece of legislation. But truth be told, it’s what is being consulted on between now and mid-August that really matters.

  The public has an unrivalled opportunity to have their say: about how generous the publicly-funded social care system is and who it should support.

  Our End the Secret Subsidy campaign highlights the unfair subsidies in our residential care system. There are the top-ups families of the poorest pensioners can’t always afford and many are shocked they have to pay. We also want the government to do something about the subsidy care homes pass on to people who pay for their own care (to make good the shortfall they receive in local authority funding).

  At our Care Market event recently we heard from the sector itself; the problems in the residential care market and how some of these might be solved. Now it is time for the people who matter most – the public – to get involved. If they don’t, we risk forgetting who this consultation is really about.

• http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/