Not a care...

The prime minister’s long-awaited plan for the reform of social care is a massive let down, a damp squib.

It is not a plan, and certainly not the solution to a national disgrace: the way millions of disabled and elderly people are being treated.

Far from urgently tackling the problem, the help offered is not only far too little, its main benefit will not come for two years, and will still not prevent people losing their homes.

Mike Padgam, managing director of the St Cecilia home care group, is scathing in his condemnation of the 'plan’.

‘So, after all the campaigning for over thirty years for a better deal, we have been let down’ he said. ‘All we have is another sticking plaster to get some money into the NHS because it has been battered by Covid.'

The social care system has been fighting Covid side by side with the NHS yet it is still being treated as less important. Proper reform has been booted ‘down the road’.

I am one of masses of elderly people who have had to sell my home and in two years have seen my savings pouring out at an alarming rate, worrying about how long I can afford to meet that cost.

Now we know: we must carry on worrying. Even the main changes announced will not come into effect for two years.

No wonder every organisation involved in caring for the elderly and disabled is fearful for the future.