Boris Johnson has announced a package to reform social care ‘once and for all’. Some argue, however, that he has failed to address any of the vital issues facing the future of the sector
In his first address as prime minister in 2019, Boris Johnson said he had a “plan” to repair the English social care system “once and for all”. Nearly two years later, the “plan” to “fix” social care makes an appearance as no plan at all – it’s merely a souped-up version of the proposals of the Dilnot Commission set up by David Cameron’s coalition government, chaired by the economist Sir Andrew Dilnot, which reported ten years ago. The new “reform” says nothing about the real needs of the service. It is little more than an asset protection scheme, whereby the promised three-year, £36-billion investment in social care ignores equity and justice and protects those who not only have sizeable assets but will, in all likelihood, already still pass an appreciable amount to their children after their care is paid for.
It is proposed that people with assets below £20,000 (rather than below £14,250, as at present) will not have to contribute towards their care; people with assets of £20,000 to £100,000 will be means-tested; everyone with assets above that will pay full fees, but no one will pay more than £86,000 over their lifetime. These changes will be paid for by a rise of 1.25 per cent in employee and employer National Insurance contributions (with pensioners paying for the first time) and on dividend income to create a Health and Social Care Levy.