With the publication of the Dilnot report on the Funding of Care and Support it is no wonder that a Downing Street source said that it would be "kicked into the medium length grass". The main recommendations can be found on pages 5-7 of the report, however for those who want an idiot's guide one has been produced with a simple summary on page 7. It should be noted that in February 2011, at the request of the Dilnot Commission, Ipsos Mori published the findings of what they state was: "a thorough review of public opinion research concerning the future funding and management of social care in England". It is worth looking at the Bibliography section of the Ipsos Mori report to see from whence they based their findings.
Having 'skimmed' the main report there would appear to be one glaring admission on the estimated costs to government and that is the effect that the "Elephant in the room" factor will have, coupled with the point that this report only covers England so it is unclear whether the monies donated to Scotland under the Barnett formula have been accounted for in the Dilnot Commission's costings.
Reverting to the question of the "Elephant in the room", under the terms of membership of the European Union anyone from a Member State has the right to come to this country to live and receive state benefits and assuming those people have achieved the right of 'permanent residence' they have then access to all state benefits. At the time of writing I am in the process of researching this particular subject, however it would seem to be a complex area when taking into account the free movement of people, Human Rights legislation etc and taking an example of someone who starts work here in their 50s and remains, it is logical to assume they have the right to care in their old age.
A great deal is made of the fact that our national health system (including care) was conceived in 1940s, much of the increase in funding of the NHS and associated health care has been due to the increased demand, something which must, logically, be due to the effect of immigration, be that temporary or permanent.
3 comments:
Good point. I wonder how good care homes are, or will be, in Greece? The elderly of Greece might find that, after implementation of the recommendations, that elderly care in the South West of Britain is a better alternative and we taxpayers will accommodate their wishes, of course. Now when Serbia, Turkey etc join the EU .....
Germany introduced a Pflegeversicherung years back and has built up a jolly decent surplus which they have no intention of reducing.
This is simply an attempt to impose NIC on savings and dividends and to tax pensions with NIC.
It will simply disappear up the proverbial. Most LT Care is for Women since they live into their 80s and often have dementia. Men are comfortably dead.
This is simply another redistributive tax. If you want to understand the reasons I recommend reading Christopher Lasch books or even this beauty entitled Liberal Fascism and take an introspective look at this country
Liberal Fascism
AtO: Thank you - and time will tell!
TT: Agreed and I will try and find the tomes you mention.
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