Marie Curie response to Long-term Funding of Social Care report

Marie Curie response to The Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and Health Committee report Long-term Funding of Social Care:

“We welcome today’s report on long-term funding for social care, highlighting how growing pressures on social care are creating a system which cannot hope to meet the needs of everyone who needs support. The report’s findings are timely given the government’s decision to delay any decision on increasing funding for social care until 2020, which will leave the system stuck on the brink of collapse for another two years.

"Fixing social care will require bold solutions, and we are pleased to see that the report has not shied away from providing them. The report’s  recommendation to institute a Social Care Premium for higher-earning people aged 40 and over specifically to fund social care stands out as a way to provide the system with a much-needed boost while protecting less well-off people from bearing the brunt of taxes.

"It is clear that government needs to take action to resolve the social care crisis sooner rather than later. Repeatedly kicking the can down the road is only placing more pressure on the system, and this has a knock-on effect on the NHS and the wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable people in society."