Saturday 18 July 2015

Another coalition advance stopped by post-election Conservatives

I hope somebody is keeping a record of the Tory cuts in social security which were prevented by Liberal Democrats in coalition, now brought in with a vengeance by a majority Conservative government, together with the progressive policies initiated by the coalition which have been brought to a grinding halt by Cameron and Osborne now they have been given the power to do so. The latest trick not only effectively neuters a coalition Act but also betrays a Conservative manifesto pledge (http://www.bond.org.uk/data/files/Blog/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf - see page 3).

Provisions of the Care Act were based on a comprehensive review commissioned by the coalition from the distinguished economist and statistician Sir Andrew Dilnot. Norman Lamb, then a minister in the Department of Health, hailed the proposals in advance:

Scrapping the existing system which leaves people facing the fear of unlimited bills in their later years is the right thing to do.
These reforms will end an inequality that sees those with the least wealth spending the greatest proportion of their life savings and will bring protection and reassurance to everyone.
With an ageing population at a time of financial difficulties, we’ve taken tough decisions to bring about real reforms that will give everyone a more certain future.

This is what Saga said in February and May:

Around 40,000 people a year have to sell their home to pay for care
Changes to how long-term care for the elderly is funded will soon kick in, as part of an overhaul to try and stop the growing number of people being forced to sell their homes to pay for care.
The long-awaited Care Act came into force this April, when the 'deferred loan scheme', first proposed by the Royal Commission over a decade ago, became universally available in England
The 'care cap' is the second half of the overhaul, aimed at limiting what people pay for care, set at £72,000. But it won’t come into force until April 2016.


Now that 2016 date has been pushed into the blue yonder.



2 comments:

Frank Little said...

He has not said so. Tim has been happy to serve under Simon Hughes, so I assume he does not believe it either.

Why are you trying to distract attention from Osborne's ratting on a coalition policy and a Conservative manifesto commitment?

Frank Little said...

Peter Black has pointed out that not only were the Conservatives in coalition signed up to the policy, they also lobbed much taxpayer's money to their favourite ad agency to publicise it.