White Paper sets out bold roadmap for care

Embargo: Immediate
30.03.10

White Paper sets bold roadmap for care

20 organisations who are members of the Care and Support Alliance today gave a broad welcome to the Government’s plans for developing a National Care Service but urged more detail and warned that reform of social care needed to be made a priority very early in the next Parliament:

“The Government has today set out a roadmap towards a National Care Service which those in ill health, working-aged disabled adults, older people, their families and carers have long been calling for. This is a bold vision to end the postcode lottery in care with a system where the whole population shares the costs, rather than leaving the most vulnerable people in our society at risk of devastating care charges.

We welcome the White Paper’s placing of care in a wider context – moving towards a system that boosts independence and participation in communities, employment and education for those with support needs, but also recognising the economic imperative of supporting individuals to juggle work and caring for their families. A National Care Service can never replace the massive contribution that families make to care, but these reforms are a crucial part in delivering the back up that families desperately need to allow them to continue to support ill, frail or disabled relatives, and ensure that disabled people can either maintain or establish their true independence.

We are relieved that Government has ruled out the use of disability benefits in care budgets and accepted the importance of these vital payments to retaining independence and flexibility for their recipients as well as recognising the more broader cost of disability. However we must see more detail from Government on the key question of how care will be paid for. The proposed Commission on funding would need to be established as a priority during the next parliament to begin to turn this vision into a reality.

As we move forward into the election, it is critical that we have consensus from all parties that there must be radical action to address our crisis in care. Reform of care and support cannot be allowed to fall off the political agenda, and the positive momentum in this White Paper must be the start of a programme of far-reaching
reform which cannot be diverted.”

Supporting organizations:
Age Concern/Help the Aged, Carers UK, Centre for Policy on Ageing, Counsel and
Care, Huntingdon’s Disease Association, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Learning
Disability Coalition, Macmillan Cancer, Mencap, MND Association, MS Society,
RADAR, Resolution Foundation, RNIB, Sense, Shaping our Lives, Sue Ryder Care,
United Response, Vitalise, WRVS.
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Contact:
Steve McIntosh, Policy and Public Affairs Officer
Tel: 0207 378 4937
Mob: 07505 184 262
Email: steve.mcintosh@carersuk.org