Just been listening to Andy Burnham on care ......

I will watch this later on player. I'm glad someone has taken this on as we can't go on as we are.

Fingers crossed on that. It’s very easy to say things but much harder to actually do something.

I've just watched this on Laura K on iPlayer and it was good to hear him actually saying he'd like to tackle social care. AB said he'd have this issue on the Labour Manifesto at the next election. He also said he'd fund this via the tax system. More information about it during his speech on Tuesday.

👍🙏🤞

Primrose53

Fingers crossed on that. It’s very easy to say things but much harder to actually do something.

He knows that. But he is not ducking the issue.

At last someone who cares!👏

👍👏👏

I see that the Tories support the idea of social care, but not tax rises.

You get nothing for nothing.

I’ll wait with bated breath.
BTW, What happened to the cap on social care? was that removed by this government?

MT62

I’ll wait with bated breath.
BTW, What happened to the cap on social care? was that removed by this government?

Is that the cap that allowed you to keep £16,000 or another, which I cannot completely remember the details of, but was infinitely more generous?

Worth listening to him on the podcast How to Fail. He is very clear about the moral imperative to tackle social care.

I'm sure he will be criticised for lots of other things but he is really showing that he cares deeply about this, there is something sincere about him that I like very much.

MT62

I’ll wait with bated breath.
BTW, What happened to the cap on social care? was that removed by this government?

Cap of £86,000 cancelled by Rachel Reeves in 2004. It was originally mooted in 2011, the Tories kept putting it off, cancelled it, bought it back in again, then did nothing with it.

The cap was never going to work without substantial funding from central government.

It was only going to cover the care element not accommodation, food and other services.

For most people in residential care if would have kicked in around year three. The average length of stay is typically around 18 months to 2 years, with residential homes without nursing averaging about 24 months.

For those longer term residents where it would have kicked in, the cost would then have fallen to local councils as it does for those with funded care. Councils simply wouldn’t have had the funds to pay it.

That’s why it was postponed and eventually binned.

Yes Graphite the sum was bandied about with no thought.

Graphite

The cap was never going to work without substantial funding from central government.

It was only going to cover the care element not accommodation, food and other services.

For most people in residential care if would have kicked in around year three. The average length of stay is typically around 18 months to 2 years, with residential homes without nursing averaging about 24 months.

For those longer term residents where it would have kicked in, the cost would then have fallen to local councils as it does for those with funded care. Councils simply wouldn’t have had the funds to pay it.

That’s why it was postponed and eventually binned.

What they could do, as has happened in Wales, is to raise the amount of savings you can retain if you go into care. It is £50k here.

Haven’t the LibDems always talked about social care and the need to increase tax to pay for it?

I can remember that Andy Burnham was talking about it when he was health minister 15+ years ago, so it’s obviously something he’s been brooding on ever since.

It is a huge issue which all Governments have avoided doing anything about.
It is a service which many of us will need at some stage, for our families and ourselves.
It will all boil down to money.
At present we are borrowing like never before. We have borrowed £77.3b since April. £8b over their estimate. This isn't sustainable.
I hope John Healey reins in the money spent on welfare and doesn't raise taxes. Whatever he does, social care must not be shelved again.

I deliberately put this conversation in Chat rather than Politics because I truly think it transcends party political discussion - it is about human decency.

Yes JJ that’s what I was referring to.
Tried to answer Cossy but blinking advertising gets in the way preventing me posting, do others get this?
So basically can they take the whole of your capital now for SC?

Yes, Luckygirl, this is too important a matter to fall prey to party politics.
We have choppy waters ahead, with a larger percentage of us in the older age bracket, and more people surviving with complex needs.
A discussion awaits.

I thought the 'cap' was not on how much you could keep, but how much you might have to spend, which means that someone with say, a house and savings worth £500k who had to spend £100k on care would be charged 20% of their wealth, whereas someone whose estate was worth £100k would be wiped out.

That is not the same thing as allowing people to maintain a set amount of savings.

My aunt saved a lot of money.In 1970 she grumbled over being taxed £100 on her savings.whooshed her into a home and she lost it all