Date published: 2007/05/07
The BBC says:
An overhaul in social care with more state-funded support for the most vulnerable is needed, a survey says.
Social care is effectively means-tested in the UK apart from Scotland where personal care is provided free.
But a poll of 2,306 found most people were against the current arrangements, although many accepted some individual contribution may be needed.
The Caring Choices, a coalition of charities, said a debate was needed on social care and the ageing population.
Speaking on Radio 4's You and Yours programme, Care Services Minister Ivan Lewis said the government were trying to free up more money to put into social care.
The proportion of people over 65 is growing - over the next 20 years projections indicate it will rise by over 50%.
That means there will be more demand on social services, but less taxpayers per pensioner to fund it.
Currently, anyone with assets of more than £20,500 has to pay for social care, although if the care is linked to health treatment it is supposed to be provided free.
What a surprise, you ask people if they want something for nothing (free social care) and they say yes. Perhaps one of the polls should be honest and tell people how much they would have to pay in increased taxes to pay for it all. "You and Yours" is one of the worst programmes on Radio 4. In almost every edition they will let some special interest group demand more money for its special interest, with no regard as to who will pay for it. In this programme the presenter claimed that some changes in how social care is paid for would "only" cost one or three pounds per person per week. Well, if you add up all the "small" demands "You and Yours" makes every day, you would soon have a doubling of income tax and more. The fundamental problem with care for the elderly is demographic. People are living longer but are not working longer (although that will change slowly over the next few decades). If the public allegedly wants all these wonderful services, the public is going to have to accept that they will have to work longer to pay for it all, or cut back on something else. But it's hard for the public to make an honest appraisal of the choices when Radio 4 produces such dishonest radio programmes.
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