Press reports today, in the Daily Mail, Independant and Guardian have suggested the Prime Minister has over-ruled health secretary Andrew Lansley and is set to implement the recommendations on funding of care and support contained in the Dilnot report.
Dilnot’s main recommendations included:
- individuals’ lifetime contributions towards their social care costs – should be capped, ideally at £35,000
- the means-tested asset threshold, above which people are liable for their full care costs, should be increased to £100,000
- national eligibility criteria and portable assessments to ensure greater consistency
- claimants contribute a standard amount of between £7,000 to £10,000 a year to cover general living costs in residential care.
The coalition government will find the £1.7billion annual costs of the plan in the next public spending review. They plan to enforce the proposals in 2017 into the Government’s Care and Support Bill.