The Future of Social Care: Change, Retrenchment or Sustainability?

Abstract

10.5042/jic.2010.0372 were no longer live. Twenty-two new bills were announced in a radical Queen’s Speech. The Prime Minister appointed ‘hardliners’ to key welfare positions: Ian Duncan Smith, Lord Freud and, as Welfare Czar, former Labour Minister Frank Field. The welfare bill for which they are responsible emphasises radical reform of the benefits system, reducing fraud and getting people (including many social care service users) off benefits, particularly the old incapacity benefits. Not a trace of hesitation here. What then can we expect from a government which seems to be epitomised by the inequality of its partners and their previous lack of consensus on social care? It may be helpful here to look back to where we were just before the election. At that point, social care was a high-profile issue – even though it got little mention during the month of election campaigning. The Liberal Democrats, through their then spokesperson Norman Lamb, were seeking commitment to consensus building and a sustainable approach to funding social care. The Conservatives, represented by Andrew Lansley, now Secretary of State, steadfastly refused to enter into cross-party negotiation, attacked the Government for its ‘death tax’ and opted instead for ‘free’ residential care which critics saw as incentivising institutionalisation. The Coalition’s proposed commission does not offer the same promise as Labour’s White Paper predecessor of ruling in all funding options, referring instead Two big questions currently face all those concerned with the future of social care. What chance now that a sustainable system of funding, and a person-centred system of support, will be put in place? In trying to make sense of the current coalition government’s approach, we are likely to get a clearer idea of social care’s longer-term future from looking at the origins of its proposals than we are from trying to interpret the entrails of its text. The Coalition Programme’s brief statement on social care contained only one fact: the establishment of a commission to report within a year. Remember 1997 and the image of Tony Blair greeted by cheering crowds after gaining a landslide victory with unprecedented public support and a massive mandate for a new politics to replace 18 years of Conservative government? Yet for two years there was minimal change, with no increase in public expenditure. Deference to the right-wing press, the city and financial institutions continued, some would say, through the whole life of New Labour administrations. In sharp contrast, in 2010 David Cameron, leader of a party which did not even have an overall House of Commons majority, confirmed within days of his appointment as Prime Minister swingeing spending cuts, and major proposals for reform. The immediate £6 billion package of cuts announced made clear that any promises of ring-fencing front-line workers and services The Future of Social Care: Change, Retrenchment or Sustainability?