The long-awaited and much-needed reform of adult social carewill be delayed, according to reports. Here we go again. A reportin the Financial Times on Monday said thatthe Queen’s Speech on May 9 will emphasise the importance of socialcare reform, but there will be no bill on it in the coming sessionof parliament. While the social care white paper is set to bepublished in June, and ministers will be given “drafting authority”to prepare legislation, it will not be introduced until thefollowing parliamentary session. This means any legislation willnot become law before late 2013 at the earliest, the report added.On reading this disappointing, if not entirely unexpected, news, Isighed and shook my head. I suspect many other people will havedone the same as, yet again, social care reform appears to havebeen kicked into the long grass. The primary reason for thisappears to be funding, or the lack of it. Again, no change there.For instance, last year, the Treasury baulked at the estimated costof implementing the recommendations of the Dilnot report – between£1.3 and £2.2 billion – and doesn’t appear to have changed itsstance. With the austerity programme set to continue for theforeseeable future, it probably won’t either. The Government isalso still licking its wounds from the fallout from the “grannytax” in March’s Budget. This measure, which phases out a specificpersonal tax allowance to pensioners, caused outrage when it wasannounced. The Government may want the dust to settle on thisbefore it announces more details on legislation that affectspensioners’ wallets. There is also the thorny problem that Dilnotdid not address in too much depth – the under-funding of the socialcare system and the need for long-term sustainable arrangements tocope with rising demographic pressures – both older people andpeople with disabilities. Cross-party talks are on-going over this,but they are, according to the FT, making little progress.Also, the move to delay any bill means the decisions on funding itwill fall into the next spending review in autumn 2013. If theFT’s report is proved correct, it means the talk aboutsocial care reform will continue for at least another year – aswill discussions over the current creaking social care system, withlocal authorities, providers and budget holders continuing to tryto pull off the trick of doing more with less. With more cuts tocome in the next couple of years, it is a trick that will getincreasingly hard. While the system may not be at ‘breaking point’as some have claimed – the professionals involved will ensure thatit doesn’t collapse despite the myriad problems it faces – actionis needed urgently, not more talk. To repeat what I – and manyothers more knowledgeable and influential than me – have said foryears, the longer that the current system continues, with theever-increasing funding gap, the more difficult reform becomes. Ifonly the Government would realise this.
