Andrew Dilnot tells us why social care reform is crucial

The failure of both policy makers and politicians on the issue of social care, esp for dementia sufferers, is shameful so well done to Mr Dilnot for his excellent report. The lack of information and advice to consumers is huge. I know; my mother in law is working her way through the social care maze right now with my help. Already in 6 months virtually all my father in law’s lifetime savings are gone and we, as a family, are faced with a shortfall of around £700 per week (that’s £36,400 per year). It’s impossible to make ‘good’ decisions in a crisis and without the whole picture.
For example, the information and advice from the local authority and care agencies like Age UK and Alzheimers Society might well tell you ‘the value of your home is not included’ but in effect it is: how are we to meet that kind of shortfall without selling my mother in law’s home, borrowing money or using up my mother in law’s savings too?
In our case, the local authority might contribute as little as £100 per week due to my father in law’s pension income, yet good dementia nursing care is cheap at less than £800 per week.
As it happens, I don’t think the state should pay all the bills for social care, esp if you have assets inc housing equity. The problem is, as Mr Dilnot concludes, the potential scale of the sums demanded, all the more galling when dementia is really a health condition that should be considered on a par with having had a stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc. What are savings for if not for a rainy day. The problem is that dealing with social care costs isn’t just a rainy day; it’s a force 5 hurricane.

Like Mark’s mother-in-law (his comment of 7 July 2011), I am about to enter the maze. My wife has Alzheimer’s and she is expected to enter residential care in 6 to 9 months time. Within six months, her savings will have all but disappeared, and the family will be faced with a shortfall of £700 a week, exactly as Mark’s mother-in-law. If as I expect we cannot do so, our home will have to be sold, and I shall move into rented accommodation. But then half the proceeds will be credited to my wife, and the council will make no contribution for a further two or three years. Catch 22?

Agreed that people should have to pay towards long-term healthcare, and not just rely on the state, or on rinky-dink “products” from the insurance industry, as the Tories seem to want (remember personal pensions?). But I worry whether £35,000 is anything like enough, given the dementia epidemic which my own family’s getting involved with. Labour suggested £20,000 just a year or so ago, and were rubbished by the Tories about having a “death tax”. Now the current figure being floated is £35,000. Is this just an expectation-setting exercise with a final figure at £80,000 or so, or are there detailed calculations in the Dilnot report (haven’t seen it)? Of course, people have paid National Insurance for a long time, expecting it would cover the NHS, state pension etc, but the government keep treating this as tax revenue and spending it on weapons etc. A smaller state in the sense of smaller global ambitions rather than smaller scope of state activity, would maybe be able to look after its own citizens in old age better. How do other European countries do it, does Dilnot contain comparisons with Germany, France, Scandinavian countries?