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Short changed: the Care Bill, top-ups and the emerging crisis in residential care funding
- Authors:
- LLOYD James, INDEPENDENT AGE
- Publisher:
- Independent Age
- Publication year:
- 2013
- Pagination:
- 28
- Place of publication:
- London
In England, more than 350,000 older people live in residential care, of whom 175,000 are ‘self-funders’ who pay for their residential care fees themselves, 143,000 have their residential care fees are paid by their council, and 56,000 ‘top-up’ the local authority funding they receive via so-called ‘third party payments. This report sets out the context for the government reforms to social care by reviewing key aspects of the current residential care market in England, including the growing use of ‘third party’ top-ups. It identifies those aspects of the Care Bill and the government’s ‘capped cost’ reforms to care funding in England that will have significant implications for the operation of ‘top-up’ payments. It explores the consequences of the new category of top-up payments - ‘self-funder top-ups’ - that will emerge following the 2016 reforms to care funding in England, and the rules that should be applied to them. It makes recommendations to policymakers that existing rules on top-ups must be properly applied, and must also be applied to the new category of ‘self-funder top-ups’ from 2016 when the Care Bill reforms are due to take effect. Applying these rules will have budgetary implications for local authorities and care providers, in light of which the Government must review public spending accordingly. (Edited publisher abstract)