Notts director of social services welcomes healthcare financing reforms

However, opposition politicians fought back fearing that formula changes and increases in funding ceilings for care would disproportionately affect the poorest residents and only benefit those with more money. in the bank.

The government announced its planned social care funding reforms earlier this year which will see £ 3.6million used to change the formula for those paying for their care.

This includes introducing a cap on child care costs up to £ 86,000 and increasing the threshold from £ 14,000 to £ 20,000 where people’s assets are factored into the funding of their benefit.

It is part of the new health and social protection levy on national insurance, which will come into force from April and start supporting social care from 2023.

It will come in the form of a 1.5% increase in the NI, specifically reserved for the NHS and social services.

Melanie Brooks, corporate director of the Council for Adult Social Care and Public Health, says the reforms are a step in the right direction.

She said the reforms would support the poorest people and also help those receiving disability assistance who she said regularly have to fund the costs of care from state benefits.

She said, “People will be better off, there’s no question.

“There will be a cap, so you will only have to bear this cost for a certain amount of your estate and that is most certainly an improvement.

“The other important thing that we keep missing is what we call ‘the floor’, which is a minimum income guarantee.

“For many people, especially people of working age who have a disability or mental health issues, they start contributing to their care and this includes a contribution to non-mobility care or disability benefits.

“The guaranteed minimum income, which determines how much money you can keep before you start paying, hasn’t increased with inflation for a very long time.

“Thus, in addition to the reforms that we talk about more publicly on the care ceiling, we also have the increase in the floor.

“This is good news for the poorest people, including those on disability benefits and some of the most disadvantaged people who seek social assistance. “

However, some have suggested that the reforms may “fall short of their marketing” and that the cap “will help relatively few people”.

This is echoed by opposition politicians, who believe the changes are not doing enough to support poorer residents.

Councilor Steve Carr, a Liberal Democrat, said: “The reality is that things have to change.

“However, the proposed changes have a disproportionate impact on our poorest residents.

‘Residents who live in a £ 100,000 house in places like Ashfield will pay the same price as those who live in £ 1million properties and we say that is not fair.

“While we welcome measures to change the way people pay for care, the wealthier should pay more – it is a fair system and we advocate it.”

When the government announced the reforms, senior politicians, including the prime minister, said people would not have to sell their homes to finance their care under the new changes.

Gillian Keegan, Minister of Care, said: “The measures will lead to transformational change for social care. “

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