Tag Archives: Dilnot

The new Care Act means we can all apply for support as we get old

The Act is a watershed in the slow transition of social care into a service that thinks first and foremost about keeping people independent. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

Finally we’ve arrived. Seven years after the Law Commission embarked upon a review of what its then chairman called a “hodgepodge” of almost 40 statutes governing the care and support of older and disabled people in England, dating back as far as 1948, the Care Act is taking effect.

Much more needs to be done to meet the growing need for good quality and affordable care.

Church gives cautious welcome to adult care reforms

Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 14:42 (GMT)

The social action arm of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has welcomed the cap on adult social care costs and the extension of the means-testing threshold.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in Parliament yesterday that a ‘cost gap’ of £75,000 in care costs would be introduced, with the state stepping in after this point.

The current means-testing threshold for people to be eligible for state-funded social care will be extended from £23,520 to £123,000.

Help stop the elderly care funding crisis and sign Make Dilnot Happen by 2015 petition

Make Dilnot Happen by 2015

By Marijke Cox, Reporter Friday, January 11, 2013
1:22 PM

Kent County Council leader Paul Carter is calling for the care cost cap to be implemented by 2015

 

Pauline Turner and her mother AnniePauline Turner and her mother Annie

OUTspoken County Hall leader Paul Carter has demanded the Government cut foreign aid and EU budgets, and divert funds to elderly people to stop them having to sell their homes to pay for care.

The senior Tory criticised the “lack of commitment” shown by the Coalition, which has dithered over introducing recommendations outlined by the Dilnot commission to reform adult social care funding.

Under the current system, elderly people, including those suffering debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, are forced to sell their homes and use savings to pay for care costs.

As a result, many who have worked every day of their lives and never relied on state benefits are left with nothing.

Cllr Carter said the current funding system was “not up to the job” and demanded Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy Nick Clegg resolve the crisis.

He has launched a Government e-petition with the leaders of Hampshire and Buckinghamshire county councils calling on Whitehall to introduce recommendations outlined by the Dilnot commission.