What are the solutions to Britain’s social care crisis?

This week saw more proposals from political parties on how we might address our escalating social care crisis.

I was invited onto Sky News to discuss the scale of the problem and how we can take action to solve it.

https://​youtu​.be/​z​x​K​2​H​K​IDmw0

Proposed funding models are very uncertain

It’s hard to predict how people will respond to measures like the £100,000 threshold – will people simply pass on assets to their children and grandchildren earlier, for example?

It also depends on the housing market – a system which in itself is inherently unstable.

Social care is about providing for our future. It’s too important to leave to chance.

We need a well-funded public system

The manifesto commitments focus on how people will pay privately for social care. Too little attention has been given to those who will fall below the £100,000 threshold — people without hundreds of thousands of pounds in property assets – and the publicly funded system they will be reliant on when they reach old age, which is hugely underfunded.

We need to provide and fund a stable and secure social care system for this group too.

Let’s fix the structure of social care

Britain’s social care system is a leaky bucket. No matter how much additional financing we provide for residential care, giant chain care providers will send 29p of every £1 in public money towards debt repayment and private investors.

We have to address the care delivery model so it works for those receiving and delivering care. Our ageing population means we need to attract new talent into the sector to meet our needs now and in the future.