Approaches to social care funding Our submission to the Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committees

At the time of our submission to the inquiry, we were part way through a wider piece of work looking at social care funding. We have since published the final report, A fork in the road. 

We explored five approaches to social care funding:

• Improving the current system
• The Conservative Party’s proposals at the 2017 general election (a revised means test and a cap on care costs)
• A single budget for health and social care
• Free personal care
• A hypothecated tax for social care.

These reflect some solutions commonly raised in the debate around social care funding, and are not a comprehensive list of possible models. They also address different aspects of the debate on social care funding, including the following.

• What is the government responsible for, or, what is the ‘offer’? (Improving the current system, the Conservative Party’s proposals and free personal care).
• How does government finance its social care spending? (A hypothecated tax).
• How is social care finance allocated and organised? (A single health and social care budget).