Social care funding reform - Choices for the next government - Lucinda Allen, Hiba Sameen, George Stevenson, Charles Tallack,

Options for funding reform The next government has a mix of options for reforming social care funding, based on political choices about social care spending and the balance of responsibility between individuals and the state. [...] We have estimated this for both domiciliary and residential care by assuming that the proportion of the population aged 65 years and over using free personal care would be the same in England as in Scotland and applying the English annual costs to local government for each person. [...] A universal social care system We use cost estimates for changing the level of the cap from the 2011 Dilnot analysis to extrapolate the cost of setting the cap at zero – which would provide publicly funded care to everyone who needs it. [...] Policymakers would need to make choices about what should be included in the state’s offer – for example, the level of social care needs covered under the system and the types of support to be funded. [...] Government would need to make choices about what should be included in the state’s offer – for example, the level of social care needs covered and the types of support to be funded.