Latest News:Latest News - May 2010
Community Care and the New Government
The new government is making severe cuts in public spending and has promised to protect some areas like education and the NHS but not social care. Paul Burstow, the Care Services minister, has said the coalition will ditch Labour's plan to provide free personal care at home to people with high level needs. Questions were raised about the costs of that plan but it seems those will not now be further explored. This is no real surprise given objections raised to the proposals, set out in the Personal Care at Home Act 2010, when the Government was in opposition.
The Act would also have improved re-ablement services to help people move back home and live independently. That would, arguably, have meant long term residential care costs would have been saved. Mr Burstow has said he will "consider what more can be done on re-ablement in the light of available resources".
Mr Burstow, who is a Lib Dem MP, has promised to increase support for carers looking at benefits and at respite breaks. This seems to be in line with the Tory notion of Big Society and with people taking more responsibility for themselves, although the coalition policy deal says respite through direct payments to carers and better community based provision will be improved (http://programmeforgovernment.hmg.gov.uk/social-care-and-disability/).
Carers UK's director of policy and public affairs, Emily Holzhausen, said: "It is not yet clear what the new government intends to do with this money, but it is critical that it is invested in providing additional support to carers that helps them to stay in work, take a break from caring and look after their own health – things which most people take for granted".
There is a real risk that cuts or freezes to resources will result in a shortage in social services staff and in provision of services at a time when demand for support is inevitably increasing given the aging population. On his blog, Vern Pitt says on communitycare.co.uk:
"It's not clear if it's related to cuts but Carer Watch has some interesting notes about care home closures and is looking for more. If you know of closures due to lack of government funding, it'd be of interest to us at Community Care as well."
Maxwell Gillott are able to advise on cuts to social and health care services so please get in touch with our team on: 01524 596080 or email us at office@mglaw.co.uk.
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© Maxwell Gillott 2008
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