{"id":2309,"date":"2021-07-30T20:06:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2021-07-30T20:06:55","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T19:06:55","slug":"will-the-capped-cost-model-become-a-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/will-the-capped-cost-model-become-a-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model become a reality?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years on from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support (the \u2018Dilnot Comission\u2019), the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model is again at the centre of debate on how to make England\u2019s system of means tested support for care costs fairer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By James Lloyd<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fact such a debate is happening at all is testament to the hard work of campaigners, as well as the spotlight thrown on the fragile care sector by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Does Downing Street\u2019s apparent appetite for implementing the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model mean that after a decade, it will finally become a reality?<\/p>\n

This will only happen if history does not repeat itself.<\/p>\n

The previous Conservative government had a plan to implement the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model \u2013 but then changed course.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0 July\u00a0 2015,\u00a0 the government\u00a0 announced\u00a0 that\u00a0 it\u00a0 would\u00a0 delay\u00a0 implementing a \u2018cap\u2019 on costs from April 2016 until April 2020. The\u00a0 Government\u00a0 cited\u00a0 the\u00a0 expected\u00a0 \u00a36 billion cost\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 policy\u00a0 (over\u00a0 five\u00a0 years)\u00a0 at\u00a0 \u201ca\u00a0 time of\u00a0 consolidation\u201d\u00a0 as\u00a0 the\u00a0 reason\u00a0 for\u00a0\u00a0 delay,\u00a0 and\u00a0 noted\u00a0 the\u00a0 \u201cgenuine\u00a0 concerns raised\u00a0 by stakeholders\u201d. In December\u00a0 2017,\u00a0 the\u00a0 revised date\u00a0 of\u00a0 April\u00a0 2020\u00a0 was dropped and no new date was announced.<\/p>\n

Why was the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model dropped by the government and what needs to happen to prevent a similar outcome?<\/p>\n

A key argument advanced by the Local Government Association and others in 2015 was that the money would be better spent on propping up the underlying means-tested system.<\/p>\n

This suggests that to overcome concerns about priorities, the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model will only be successfully implemented as part of a larger injection of funding into the care system.<\/p>\n

The \u2018capped cost\u2019 model also lost favour with the government because, as the then Care Minister noted in a statement to the Commons: \u201cthere are no indications the private insurance market will develop as expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the creation of a financial services market for care products was one of the original key purported benefits of the \u2018capped cost\u2019 reforms, it is rarely discussed now. The absence of such products therefore seems unlikely to be an impediment.<\/p>\n

However, the reasons the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model was dropped weren\u2019t just about spending priorities and financial services, and were hinted at by the government in referring to the \u2018genuine concerns\u2019 of stakeholders. These included many councils and care providers who by 2015 had begun to grapple with the practicalities of implementing the model.<\/p>\n

What were these concerns?<\/p>\n

The most prominent was that the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model doesn\u2019t cap the costs of people who pay for their own residential care. This is because of the difference between what councils and private self-funders pay for residential care, even in the same care home. Under the model, if they reach the notional \u2018cap\u2019, self-funders would only receive what their local authority pays for the residential care of those entitled to means-tested support, which is typically far lower than what self-funders pay. As a result, self-funders would have to carry on paying top-ups beyond the \u2018cap\u2019.<\/p>\n

In fact, because councils would use their typical rate for residential care to calculate when people have reached the \u2018cap\u2019, rather than what individual self-funders have actually paid, most self-funders would have spent far more than the notional value of the \u2018cap\u2019 before they were entitled to support.<\/p>\n

Another key concern of stakeholders related to the effect the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model would have on the residential care market. Informing every self-funder (and their family) what the local council pays for care could lead to chaos in the residential care sector, bringing to the surface the hidden cross-subsidy of local authorities by self-funders among providers with a mix of residents. This was why, when it set aside the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model, the government also set aside Section 18(3)\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Care\u00a0 Act,\u00a0 which would have given self-funders\u00a0 the right to request\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 local\u00a0 authority should arrange their care when they are seeking to move to a care home.<\/p>\n

These issues with the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model, and others, all remain to be worked through.<\/p>\n

If the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model helps to push over the line a major funding injection for the existing means-tested care system as well as wider reforms, the model will have performed a vital political role.<\/p>\n

However, if the decision to implement the model occurs, there will be a huge amount of work to do if history is not to repeat again. If this work doesn\u2019t happen, the issues above could yet undermine public support for the reform, and with it, support for higher taxes to pay for an improved care system.<\/p>\n

This blog first appeared here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ten years on from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support (the \u2018Dilnot Comission\u2019), the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model is again at the centre of debate on how to make England\u2019s system of means tested support for care costs fairer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9,91],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1.jpg",2048,1365,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1.jpg",2048,1365,false],"et-pb-post-main-image":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-400x250.jpg",400,250,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-1080x675.jpg",1080,675,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-400x284.jpg",400,284,true],"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-510x382.jpg",510,382,true],"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-1080x720.jpg",1080,720,true],"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-400x516.jpg",400,516,true],"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth-large":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1.jpg",2048,1365,false],"et-pb-image--responsive--desktop":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-1280x853.jpg",1080,720,true],"et-pb-image--responsive--tablet":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-980x653.jpg",827,551,true],"et-pb-image--responsive--phone":["https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/78366957-scaled-1-480x320.jpg",405,270,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Trevor Sather","author_link":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/author\/trevor-2\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Ten years on from the Commission on Funding of Care and Support (the \u2018Dilnot Comission\u2019), the \u2018capped cost\u2019 model is again at the centre of debate on how to make England\u2019s system of means tested support for care costs fairer.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/strategicsociety.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}