Solve the social care crisis

[Explaintome]

As I understand it, the lack of social care is causing a lot of the problems in hospitals and therefore the ambulance service. People can't be discharged because of lack of care, so block beds.

Carework is unattractive because of the poor pay.

Despite the poor pay, care still costs the taxpayer £££

The now cancelled NI increase was supposed to help fund social care, but disproportionately affected the low paid and didn't affect retirees or the wealthy with unearned income at all.

My solution. Accept that people need to pay for their own care where they can, including from the sale of their houses, even if that's retrospectively because they or their spouse were living in them at the time.

Increase inheritance tax.

To me it makes perfect sense that people who have the means pay what are essentially their own living costs and that those people with means who are fortunate enough not to need care constitute to a pot to pay for care for those who don't have their own money.

I don't understand why "we" are so hung up on the idea that parents have a right to pass on (largely unearned/untaxed) property gains to children.

IHT taxes people who no longer have any need for the money, it seems a painless tax to me.

FWIW I am the child of boomers who worry about IHT so this would cost me, but I think if there's that much money going "free" there should be substantial tax paid on it.

You can't hire carers even with the money, dsd's personal budget pays £12.50 an hour but still hard to find carers (thankfully it's all outsourced but she pays from her budget to the agency)

So £12.50 isn't enough. Obviously it's a lot when you have to pay it, but if it's not enough to attract people to the work, it's not enough.

I do think one potential solution is visas tied to 5 year care contracts (after which you can get permanent leave to remain if you stay in the care industry for x more years! People want to come to Britain to live from many parts of the world, why not encourage them on our terms.

Ps dgm's carers were mostly east African and amazing

Make people to take out policies to cover their social care right from when they start work, like a workplace pension, give tax relief on what they pay, the same on private health care which will cut waiting lists.

I'm pretty sure they'd find a way if it was going to bring them a profit!

My df had a serious injury and was able to come home with care that came via doctor's .

People came in and looked after him it was amazing and freed up a hospital bed.

I'e got him out of bed, dressed him, commode etc.

We should have more assisted dying available.

Esp for people with dementia who are totally unresponsive and unrecognisable (their choice before they become incapacitated to choose).

They'd find a way. I'm thinking it would be like the nurses dormitories you used to get (maybe still do?)..

Do such policies exist? I've looked at insurance to cover care costs and so far as I can see it's not possible.

My thoughts:

• Fix care prices - this way we can pay insurance towards future care/have it deducted before tax from earnings. I don't mean save for the whole amount but a contribution.
• Remove the funding for social care from Council Tax income. Fund it from the above (insurance from earnings) and Govt top level budget
• Implement a cap on health diagnosis which triggers a move from NHS front line into a separate Desgnated Service. Split the budgets to reflect this.
• keep IHT on property (as gains have not been previously taxed), but remove it from cash savings.

Oops. And use IHT from properties to bolster the Social Care budget.

community care is had thankless work, not enough time is ever given to the clients

Implement a cap on health diagnosis which triggers a move from NHS front line into a separate Desgnated Service. Split the budgets to reflect this.

This is already happening in practice, people with social care needs pay after 6 weeks rehab or are deemed Continuing Health Care funded and it’s paid for from NHS budget. Most people think that health and social care should be more integrated rather than further fragmented.

And it needs a very different skill set. Carers absolutely do need to be paid more but it’s in no way comparable with working in a shop or McDonald’s.

It would concern me if people were doing it just to get paid more.

There used to be half-way houses - they were called convalescent home - government ditched them.

Now that care homes and home services are privatised there is little training, or support, or career structure. When these services were run by the LA, then all these rights and benefits were there for care workers. Government ditched this in favour of dogma-driven privatisation.

You reap what you sow when you cast your vote in a GE.

exactly different skill set required.
people ask on community facebook for a job, people point them in the direct of care companies, not the best solution. i think carers should do the work because they want to, and feel respected

Oh I realise that, but it's naive to think that anyone doing the work now arrived for a minimum wage job with a fully developed set of skills or that the majority of people working in that minimum wage job are doing it for any reason other than they need the money.

Of course people need proper training and not every applicant would be suitable, but maybe if the pay was targeted at people who actually have choices, you'd get better quality, just like in every other job? Currently some staff are excellent, but you have a situation where care agencies will literally take whoever they can get, they're not being choosy.

Caring in this entire country is looked down upon as worthless and of no value.

Those caring for the elderly and disabled are paid peanuts and people bemoan having to pay for them
Childcare employees are paid peanuts and people bemoan having to pay for them
Grandparents, extended family and children are expected to provide care for children and their parents for free
SAHP are the lowest of society and seen as spongers (even on here)

Caring is seen as worthless because 'anyone could do it' but no one is prepared to do it.

The answer is that our population is too big for the public sector we have. We either need to accept that the public sector needs to be expanded or the population decreased. But neither are particularly popular.

What are you on about?

Are you seriously implying that all elderly people in the UK are white? Because they're not.

Secondly, are you saying that most white elderly Brits are racist? Because that's rubbish too.

Explaintome there was a time when workplace pensions didn't exist but they do now & there was legislation to force employers to do it, why can't they do it for care? You pay in to it & get tax relief just like you do for a workplace pension, there could be a clause that if it is never used then your family get a payout after you die.

@TERFwithAcat
indeed you read what i wrote and want to argue with me?

i also know that many of those needing care do not like male carers.

put that in your pipe and smoke it!

I don't think that's a good enough reason to dismiss the idea. And I wouldn't say it's immigration as a solution - more like temporary work force, immigration sounds too permanent.

Bring back cottage hospitals.

Pay carers a wage they can at least live on, even better pay it as a respectable occupation as it is, caring for some of the most vulnerable, not just a job you get because you can't get anything else.

Stop paying trained healthcare professionals the same as a supermarket worker.

But none that matters because the road is for privatisation so they don't want to solve it.

And I'm sorry for sounding disrespectful there about supermarket wagers but it's not right that you train for 5 years+ for a career and get the same pay.