The King's Fund responds to Baroness Casey's Health and Social Care Select Committee appearance

Responding to Baroness Casey's appearance at the Health and Social Care Select Committee, Sarah Woolnough, Chief Executive at The King's Fund, said: 

'It was encouraging to see that Baroness Casey is open to a faster timetable for reform. The longer the social care system remains in crisis, the more people and their loved ones will suffer the consequences. Only by moving at pace can we begin to rectify this system that has failed too many already.

'At the heart of successful reform will be a broadening of the eligibility criteria for publicly funded social care to create a more universal system. The UK is an outlier when it comes to social care, restricting access in a way that other countries simply do not, with consequences for people's health, independence and fulfilment. Now is the time to rectify this opportunity and to do so at pace. An honest conversation about the options to increase funding will be needed, including the balance of state and individual investment.

'As Baroness Casey noted at her appearance, our previous work on the public's attitudes to social care showed a lack of clarity as to what people understand social care to be and how it operates. Her commitment to a large consultation exercise with the public is a welcome step but it cannot be a solo act. Any incoming Prime Minister must grasp this nettle, take up Baroness Casey's openness to an accelerated timetable and move social care up the political agenda in order to engage the public and work with them to build consensus about the need for reform and its urgency.’

Notes to editors     

Baroness Casey’s comments on her Commission’s timetable: Public Consultation to Shape UK Social Care Reform Plans.

The King’s Fund’s previous work on social care: Social Care 360 | The King's Fund and Not My Priority: How The Public Sees Social Care (And What Can Be Done About It) | The King's Fund.