Disability group in Norfolk and Suffolk critical of social care plans
Equal Lives, a disability group from Norfolk and Suffolk say they will hit the poorest hardest
The Government's amended plans for social care have been criticised by a disability group based in Norfolk and Suffolk.
The decision to not allow support payments from councils to count towards the £86,000 cap on personal care costs has been particularly controversial.
MPs backed the amendment 272 votes to 246, majority 26.
But that was a major cut to the Prime Minister’s working majority of around 80 MPs, as 19 Conservatives including Waveney MP Peter Aldous, and Central Suffolk and North Ipswich's Dr Dan Poulter – while 68 Tories did not vote for them, either because they abstained or could not vote.
The CEO of Equal Lives, Ben Reed says these plans will only benefit those who are extremely asset rich: "We've seen several recommendations that have been ignored and this scheme is only useful to people who's assets exceed the £86k threshold and considerably exceed that. Those people probably aren't those that had a problem contributing to the cost of their care in the first place."
He went on to say they will hit the poorest hardest and don't provide enough funding to homes: "Its very disappointing. The cost cap seems quite high and its going to affect an awful lot of people with modest income and assets. It doesn't really address the issues of most of our members experiences. There's not actually enough care and the councils can't fund the level of care that would actually make people's lives better".
He also told us that it does little to address or tackle the building workers shortage in the sector: "Staff are moving from the Social Care sector to better paid jobs that perhaps weren't available previously. Also, it's been a pretty rotten time to have to work in the sector and you are facing quite high risks from Covid. There's been outbreaks in lots of residential care providers".
He concluded by saying this care should be free at the point of access: "I think most people think that it is free. I think it's always a big shock once they get a bill from the council or are told how much it will cost. I think we need to see the funding gap plugged. The conservative estimates are that there's a £10 billion black-hole in social care budgets".
Mr Johnson had defended the plans as “incredibly generous” and “much better than the existing system” during a speech at the annual CBI conference earlier in the day.