On Monday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a series of spending cuts, attributing them to a £21.9 billion government overspend hidden by the previous Conservative government. Among these cuts, Reeves declared that adult social care charging reforms would be scrapped. These reforms would have introduced an £86,000 cap on personal care costs from next October. They were also designed to ensure that after spending this amount, individuals’ additional care costs would be covered by local authorities, and the asset threshold for receiving council support would be raised from £23,250 to £100,000.
These reforms had already faced delays and funding challenges under the previous government, which had removed the National Insurance rise intended to finance them. Reeves estimated that cancelling the reforms would save £1 billion by the end of next year. When asked if the cap might be reinstated in the future, she mentioned that Health Secretary Wes Streeting would work with the sector to improve social care.
Sir Andrew Dilnot, the original creator of the proposals, described the decision as a “tragedy.” The Kings Fund has urged the government to swiftly develop and implement a new plan for adult social care reform, stressing the moral question of whether society should allow unmet care needs. The County Councils Network (CCN) acknowledged the frustrations of campaigners but pointed out the lack of funding and the acute pressures faced by councils. They called for the government to address these immediate challenges in the forthcoming Spending Review and emphasised the broader scope of social care reform, including workforce recruitment and retention, and sustainable funding for day-to-day services.
The Chancellor’s decision to abandon the proposed charging reforms for adult social care directly contradicts the commitments made by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, who assured before the general election that Labour would not scrap social care reform plans without a feasible alternative. This reversal is particularly disheartening following a recent report by the Care and Support Alliance, which highlighted the severe inequities faced by those seeking care and support. The £1 billion in savings represents not just a fiscal number but tens of thousands of people who will struggle to afford their care. This major announcement relating to social care was made with no prior notice to the sector, and perhaps without notice to the Department of Health and Social Care from the Treasury.
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