Sir Andrew Dilnot, who has advised successive Conservative-led governments to fix a sector whose struggles are causing serious backlogs in the NHS, told the Guardian he welcomed the announcements of up to £4.7bn of extra money for adult social care in England. But he added that the government had now broken a 2019 manifesto promise to “fix social care” and implement changes finalized a year ago. They included increasing the amount of assets a person can have before receiving government social care funding from £23,250 to £100,000, as well as capping lifetime care costs at £86,000. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, described the announcement of a two-year delay in Thursday’s autumn statement as “another broken promise after 12 years of Tory failure on social care”. Dilnot said: “Without these reforms, individuals and families facing the possibility of long social care trips are left completely on their own, with the state only helping when assets, including housing, fall below £23,250. “We heard a lot today about compassion as a British value and how the Government sought to protect the most vulnerable. It is hard to think of a more vulnerable group than those with significant care needs and yet this group is, again, at the bottom of the priority list.” In May, while out of government, Hunt said he regretted failing to secure a long-term plan to transform the social care system while he was health secretary. His announcement on Thursday of an extra £4.7bn for adult social care was significant. Council adult social services managers said it provided “some welcome relief and [will] to reduce some of the effects of the current crises”. MHA, the biggest not-for-profit home care provider, said Hunt, who as a backer called for a £7bn injection, had taken “the smallest steps in turning his words into action”. But it fell short of the minimum sums estimated to be needed by the industry and local councils. Dilnot last month said social care needed an extra £6bn over three years. Councils have said they need £13bn immediately – of which £6bn will be used to increase care workers’ pay, tackle demographic and inflationary pressures and stabilize the provider market, and £7bn will be used to ensure that local authorities are able to fulfill all statutory duties. The Carers Alliance had called for a “1948 moment”, a reference to the creation of the National Health Service. An estimated 540,000 people are waiting for treatment, financial assessment or review. Subscribe to The Guardian Headlines UK A roundup of the top morning headlines emailed straight to you every day of the week Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Dilnot said many families have been “supporting since September [last year] on the announcement made by the Government that these reforms will be implemented in October 2023. This promise now appears to be broken, despite being agreed by both Houses of Parliament and receiving Royal Assent.’ He added: “Simply delaying these reforms by two years does not in any way change the long-term balance between taxation and public spending, so it cannot form part of a coherent response to the public finance challenge facing the country.”
