Care system needs 'radical reform'

Last Modified: 12 May 2008
Source: ITN

"Radical reform" is needed to fund future social care for an ageing population, Gordon Brown has said.

The care system in England is facing an estimated £6 billion funding gap within the next 20 years.

The Prime Minister is hoping to reassure those people who fear losing a "treasured home" to pay for their care.

In a speech to launch a consultation on how to fund future social care, he said that he fully understands people's anxieties and wants them to be able to save for old age.

Mr Brown said he wants care to be more responsive to demands for independence and it must be made easier for people to stay in their own homes.

"This is an issue at the heart of our ambition to create a fairer Britain. Of course, helping relatives is a challenge that most families rise to - however difficult it becomes," he said.

"But that doesn't make it any easier. Nor does it remove family worries about providing physical care that is needed - or take away people's concerns that at some point in the future they may have to sell a treasured home to pay for their own care.

"It is essential that in future there is fairness for those who work hard and save for their retirement."

He said the Government needs to make it easier for people to be cared for in their own homes so that fewer have to move out, with supporting family members and friends who act as carers.

"There is no easy solution to this problem - though measures which succeed in supporting frail older people in their own homes for as long as possible will certainly help," Mr Brown said.

"But we can - and must - look to give people the opportunity and the support to save for their old age in a way which insures them and protects their houses and their inheritance."

State support for social care is currently means-tested but the ageing population means pressure on the system is set to increase.

These news feeds are provided by an independent third party and Channel 4 is not responsible or liable to you for the same.