Tory MP calls for ‘new model of social care’

An influential Conservative MP has called for a ‘new model of social care’ with home care costs met by National Insurance contributions.

In a new pamphlet for the think tank Demos, Danny Kruger suggests that all home care costs be covered by public funds and that the family home should not have to be sold to pay for care.

But this would be on the condition that a joint commitment is made by the individual, their family, the local authority and the government to each play their part.

Mr Kruger is the former political secretary to Boris Johnson and last year wrote another report, which called for a new era of ‘community power’.

In the pamphlet, he also proposes a new funding model based on social insurance, to cover both residential and community-based care, involving dedicating a portion of the National Insurance fund to help pay for social care costs.

‘The problem which lies beneath the underfunding of the social care system is that as a society we do not really respect elderly people, or working age adults with care needs,’ said Mr Kruger.

‘Nor do we properly value the people who, paid or unpaid, look after them. This is why social care has always been the Cinderella of the public services, with underinvestment by successive governments largely accepted by voters. We have built a model that pushes people with care needs, carers and care workers to the margins of our society – out of sight, out of mind, and out of pocket. That now must change.

‘There is every reason to be hopeful that, as we emerge from the long shadow of Covid-19, we can build a system that gives elderly people, and other adults with care needs, dignity and independence, preserves family assets, and properly rewards care workers for their vital, skilled and loving work,’ he added.

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