Social care cap scrapped: Experts react
To many people’s disgust chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced she has scrapped plans to introduce a social care cap in a bid to plug a £22bn hole in public spending.
Yesterday afternoon Rachel Reeves addressed the House of Commons and revealed a number of tight spending cuts to try and plug what she called a £22bn hole in public spending that was ‘covered up’ by the Conservative government.
Announcing a date for the autumn budget of 30th October, Reeves warned the statement will come with a number of disappointing cuts. For example, in an effort to save £1bn a year, she explained the government plan to cap care charges for older people would be scrapped.
This revelation prompted shouts from the Tory benches to which Reeves responded, ‘I can understand why members are angry. I am angry, too. The previous government let people down.’
This appalled tone has also been echoed by a number of social care professionals. Below are a series of reactions to the statement.
Suhail Mirza, non executive director at Newcross Healthcare
‘Rachel Reeves’ sobering statistics about the hole in the inherited public finances included the decision to cancel the charging reforms for social care due to be introduced in October 2025. The Government is playing copy cat to the Conservatives who recanted on introducing these reforms barely 24 months ago.
‘And now, a decade and half after The Dilnot Review, which looked into how to most equitably cap the (sometimes crippling) costs of care, we now have what appears a definitive kicking of the can down the road.
‘Whither the vision for social care reform? It all seems a depressing reminder of how the sector remains mired in the margins of Ministerial priorities for health and social care.’
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK
‘Sir Andrew Dilnot was asked to devise a scheme to protect older people who have to pay their own pay bills a generation ago and did so, but after successive governments have dilly dallied over whether to implement it or not, the new government has finally said that it will definitely not be pressing ahead. In the meantime our system of social care has gone from merely creaking to a state of near collapse in some places, with the result that there is now a much wider set of serious problems that need to be addressed – including big workforce shortages, lack of availability of care and patchy quality.
‘Nonetheless, the fact that we now know Sir Andrew’s scheme will not be going ahead is really bad news for all those older people who were hoping against hope for some relief from their sky-high care bills – in the short term at least it seems they are on their own. The problem of high care bills is however very real, and the government must tackle it as part of a broader package of measures designed to stabilise and reform social care – and sooner rather than later.’
Anita Charlesworth, director of research at the Health Foundation
‘The revelation that there is a £22bn shortfall in the public accounts underlines the difficult decisions ahead.
‘Pausing to review the new hospital programme to ensure that it does deliver what the NHS needs is sensible. Nevertheless, given the woeful state of NHS infrastructure following years of under-investment, this will be a major concern for people across the country desperate to see improvements to their local hospitals. After years of short-term decision-making, a more coherent approach to capital investment is essential.
‘Modernising the NHS and unlocking productivity improvements requires sustained capital investment to fix crumbling buildings, replace outdated equipment, increase capacity in primary care and diagnostics, and develop the technology that is critical for 21st-century health care. Our projections indicate that the annual capital budget would need to increase from £12.6bn this year to £20.5bn by the end of parliament (2029/30) to provide the improvements needed.
‘Implementing the pay review body recommendations for NHS staff is an important step forward and it is encouraging that the government has made progress in its negotiations with the BMA. However, there are big questions over how these pay increases will be funded, with a significant proportion of the cost expected to come from additional efficiency savings. It’s very hard to see where these savings can come without affecting patient care.
‘It is deeply disappointing that the government has once again delayed long overdue reforms to cap the costs of care. After decades of political neglect, the social care system is in desperate need of reform to improve access to care and provide greater protection for people and their families against significant care costs.’
Dr William Burns, CIPFA social care policy advisor
‘Yesterday, the Chancellor scrapped the adult social care charging reforms. CIPFA will always support decisions which lead to better management of public finances and create greater efficiency for local authorities. In December 2023, CIPFA released a report on ‘Charging for adult social care in England‘ which revealed that the proposed charging reforms were flawed, underfunded and would impose significant costs on local authorities. CIPFA finds that local authorities were not prepared for the reforms and had called for delay.
‘While it is important to make the payment system for adult social care fairer, urgent challenges must be addressed first. Issues include supporting local authorities to manage rising demand for services, and ensuring local authorities receive adequate, long-term settlements to plug the social care funding gap. Current system challenges need to be dealt with head on or we risk building a reformed social care system on weak foundations.’
Image: Konstantin Evdokimov
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