Social care reform must not be delayed
08 May 2012
The contents of tomorrow's Queen's Speech will tell us whether
or not social care is to get the urgent reform it needs. The fear
is that it will not. I don't usually blog on the same subject 2
weeks in a row, but I'm making an exception in this case, because
the issues at stake are so important. Last week I blogged on the
rumours that social care reform was to be delayed yet again. In the
intervening 7 days, nothing has happened to suggest that these
rumours were unfounded. In response to the growing concern about
this likelihood, the Care and Support Alliance - a group of 78
charities, campaign groups and campaigners, including Mencap and
the National Autistic Society - wrote an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron
calling on him to include a social care bill in the Queen's Speech.
If no bill included, it will put any legislation to reform social
care back until the following parliamentary session. This means any
legislation will not become law before late 2013 at the earliest.
It would also delay any funding decisions until after the next
comprehensive spending review, which is set for autumn 2013.
Without reform, the Alliance warns, "too many older and disabled
people will be left in desperate circumstances: struggling on
alone, living in misery and fear". It is with this in mind that the
Alliance makes its impassioned plea to the Prime Minister - who has
repeatedly spoken of his support for social care reform - to try
and ensure that the bill goes in to the speech. It is hard to argue
against anything in the Alliance's letter. From what I've read and
heard anecdotally, cutbacks to services have left many people with
learning disabilities with fewer services - if they've not had them
cut completely in the past year. As a result, their lives are
becoming much more difficult. The Alliance is also right to say
that all sides - politicians, charities, providers, community
groups etc - need to come together to find a solution. The system
is creaking and is in urgent need of reform. I really hope that the
Prime Minister and the Government will heed this letter and ensure
a social care bill is included in this parliamentary session. But
my fear is that the decision has already been made, that it won't
be. The rumours about a lack of progress on finding a solution to
the social care funding gap have failed to go away and this, I
suspect, is the major stumbling block to reform. If this is the
case, then many social care service users will remain living with,
as the Alliance puts it; "the fear of what tomorrow might
bring."
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