Our Social Care Proposal
Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has made a significant policy promise: if our party wins, they will fund free social care at home. This is a big deal because social care has been a major failure area for the Conservatives over the past 14 years. Despite many promises, the Conservatives have done little to address the issue.
Sir Ed has personal experience with caregiving, having looked after his mother, grandmother, and disabled son. He proposes raising £2.7 billion by reversing a tax cut for banks to pay for free personal care at home, including help with washing and medication for everyone in England who needs it. Care workers would also get a higher minimum wage, £2 more than the national minimum. However, this plan doesn’t cover the costs of residential care.
Sir Andrew Dilnot, who led a major social care review, has urged the main parties to take social care seriously. Labour has promised new national standards and fair pay agreements for care workers, and to investigate the treatment of migrant care workers after reports of exploitation.
The Conservatives have been in power for 14 years and are blamed for the lack of progress in social care. Boris Johnson promised to fix the crisis in 2019, but his government failed to follow through. Our proposal is a necessary step towards much-needed social care reform.
Has this been fully costed? My belief is that if this was policy costs, and private companies profits would sore, care would slip and care workers get turned over. It is a good headline but similar to student fee idea of Clegg era not workable.
With tax revenues of over £850bn last year, the focus should not be on what profits private companies earn, but what we as a society would want what the tax we pay to be spent on. So even if the extra money raised from removing tax breaks for banks, where the money just goes to overseas hedge funds anyway, Why not spend some of that £850bn on caring for our older or vulnerable family members?