Ambitious for all

The care debate has the potential to shape and improve lives for generations of people.

Whether it will do so depends on how ambitious we all are, how bold the Government is prepared to be, and how successful we are in engaging the public in the debate. After all, this debate is something that most stakeholders have been seeking for some time; we welcome it and we want to ensure that it really is everybody’s business.

There are three areas where I’d like to see particular discussion – the vision, a new universal entitlement, and how we fund it. And just to get things going, here are a few thoughts on all three.

First, the vision. What is it? Is there one vision or should there be millions of visions, as each and everyone of us has different expectations and aspirations for our lives today and tomorrow.

What do we want to help us achieve those aspirations? Is it just about care and support as we know it today? Or is it about all the support, resources and neighbourhood services which make life better for me and my family?

We will only see real change in people’s lives if the vision is ambitious and is broad enough to capture the things that make a real difference to older and disabled people and their carers and families - from better transport and housing to flexible employment, secure income and good advice and information. To give everyone, as they say in Japan, a meaningful life or a life worth living.

Part of my vision is that we will all be entitled to certain things wherever we live. One of the many concerns older people and their carers who contact Counsel and Care’s advice service have about the current care system is its inconsistency or the postcode lottery in levels of care and charging. Having paid tax and national insurance all their lives, older people can’t understand why good care isn’t available wherever they live – particularly if family or friends elsewhere can get a better service.

Any new care system must deal with this lottery; it must be simpler and fairer; it must be consistent and transparent so it’s clear what you can get and what you have to pay wherever you live; and it must be flexible and personal, giving people control. A universal entitlement will also give everyone a stake in the future.

Finally, how are we going to pay for better care and support - because it will cost us more in the future?

Of course we can make better use of current spending on care; we must use all the local resources that affect people’s quality of life; and we should help people make the best use of their own assets through equity release and other products as well as through good financial and care advice.

But we must also be brave enough to examine or re-examine collective solutions that fairly share the risks and the costs - whether it’s through social insurance or a care duty on inheritance, for example - and we must learn from other countries.

The starting point for this debate is the fact that the status quo is not an option for the 21st century. But that is not enough on its own to secure a new vision fit for the future – that will require ambition, it will require boldness and above all we must ensure that everybody in this country sees this debate as their business.