The government has called on the public to give their views on what a new and more holistic care and support system should look like.
The demands on the care system in UK has changed dramatically in recent years, most noticeably the amount of people who have come to rely on it in some way, whether by personally receiving care or having friends and family receive care. Therefore, the government want the public opinion on the three main topics:
- What more do we need to do to make our vision of independence, choice and control for adults accessing social care a reality?
- What should the balance of responsibility be between the individual, the family and the Government?
- Should the system be the same for all or should we consider varying the way we allocate state funding?
Phil Hope, care services minister has said:
“We need to decide now how the care and support system must adapt. How do we share responsibility between the state, the family and the individual? How do we create a system that is fair, affordable and sustainable?”
“If we don’t act in the next 10-15 years we will find ourselves facing an estimated £6 billion annual funding gap just to maintain services at their current level,”