Minutes:
Sally Burlington, Head of Policy (People), introduced the paper drawing attention to the context of the LGA’s previous work; the LGA’s green paper on the future of care and wellbeing published in July 2018; and the follow-up report in November 2018 and the publication launched in July 2019 to mark the one year anniversary of the LGA’s green paper. Sally explained the LGA was aiming to build on that work, in particular through a further report which seeking to set out the LGA’s thinking on what the future of social care should look like and what some of the solutions are for realising that vision. Sally brought members’ attention to the draft report that had been circulated to the Board. Sally also asked within the context of the government ruling out paying for social care through national tax whether the LGA should suggest a mandatory insurance scheme.
In the discussion that followed, the following points were raised;
· The LGA was involved in discussions with ministers and the department on the future of social care and the government was interested in hearing what a cross-party vision for adult social care going forward looked like.
· Views were expressed that the draft foreword was good, but the LGA should not rule out taxation as a source of funding for adult social care.
· It was pointed out there was a considerable amount of money in the system as a whole but it was spent in silos, and could therefore be spent better.
· A concern was raised that there was no evidence Members could see that a mandatory insurance scheme was the best option, and a vital consideration would be to ensure it worked for the less well off. One
· A concern was raised that there wasn’t enough public awareness around the costs of funding social care, and that more needs to be done to bring attention to the role of social care and the difficulty in affording the cost.
· It was raised that there were international models, as in the Netherlands, that the LGA could draw on.
· Views were expressed against an insurance scheme being voluntary, and that payment options needed to be simple for the public to understand. National Insurance was a model that could be considered. The insurance industry would also want to limit their liabilities, so paying for care for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia would be an issue.
· Views were expressed that the need for a full public consultation from central government on the options for funding social care needs to be emphasised in future work.
· The LGA’s view needed to be framed in the context of what the government was trying to address, which was pressure on A&E departments and the role that adult social care had in helping the NHS. The Dilnot report had been comprehensive and there was much to draw from there, including the importance of fairness.
· Sally raised that of the options presented in the LGA paper to the Board and the LGA’s adult social care green paper the mandatory insurance scheme had been the least unpopular with respondents. An option would be at Question 3 and come back with more detail.
· The importance of working closely with the NHS in terms of prevention was also emphasised by Members.
Decision
The Community Wellbeing Board Members provided comments on the emerging draft publication and its key proposals.