Call for long-term care reform

The UK needs a new system to pay for long-term care for older people, according to a new report.

Research from a coalition of 15 organisations - including the King's Fund, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Help the Aged and Age Concern - found that more investment would be needed to meet the needs of the ageing population.

It is expected that the number of older people requiring care will increase by 50 per cent between 2002 and 2026.

And the consultation of more than 700 people found that many people would be willing to pay for a fairer long-term care system.

There was support for a system of co-payments under which the state pays for the majority of care, with the user providing a fixed percentage contribution.

However, only 20 per cent of participants thought that the government should be responsible for meeting all of the costs.

The report pointed out that family carers were angry over not being paid for their work and called for a more generous carer's allowance.

It also criticised the method of means testing and the so-called postcode lottery which sees people receiving different levels of support depending on where they live.

Julia Unwin, the director of the Joseph Rowntree foundation, said: "People yearn for greater clarity about their entitlements: whichever system we have should do what it says on the tin.

"At present many older people and carers feel unsupported by a system that all too often seems to be working against them, rather than giving them essential support at a time of their life when they
are at their most vulnerable."

David Rogers, the chairman of the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board, said the report "underlines how inadequate and iniquitous the current care system is".