Care green paper falls short

By Sunil Peck

The government has proposed three options for funding a new social care service in a green paper launched this week.

Under the new system, a person will receive a single assessment and an equal standard of care regardless of which local authority they live in.

The first proposal is that the state would pay a figure worth between a quarter and a third of a person's care costs with the individual paying for the rest.

The second proposal is similar to the first with the government paying a figure worth between a quarter and a third of costs, but would involve the individual paying into an insurance scheme to cover the remainder. The government estimates that the insurance costs would be between £20,000 and £25,000.

Under the third option, everyone would pay a figure estimated at between £17,000 and £20,000 when they reach retirement.

People whose assets are below a threshold, which the government says will be around £23,000, will receive free care.

A consultation period on the green paper runs until November and the government intends to begin phasing in whichever scheme is chosen from 2014.

While the proposals have generally been welcomed by charities and other care providers, users have expressed disappointment that which ever new scheme is adopted, it will not provide care-on-demand option, based on a similar model to the NHS which many disabled people favour.