Health and Social Care

In the face of profound demographic change, it is increasingly likely that more and more people will require long term care in later life. With a complex funding system continuously under Government review, many individuals find it difficult to understand the potential social care costs they will be expected to meet later in life and, as a result, are not sufficiently preparing for it.

The majority of the public are not aware of their responsibility for covering their social care costs, or the likelihood of it happening to them. Likewise, the UK Government has been commissioning a series of assessments of social care funding over the last twenty years to explore how best to balance individual and state responsibility for these costs. With the ‘Freedom and Choice’ pension agenda allowing individuals to access their retirement savings more easily and the NHS increasingly under budgetary strain, it is essential that Government reform the system as soon as possible to clarify what individuals, providers, and Government will be expected to pay so that they can prepare accordingly.