Government should not increase taxpayer funding of elderly care
11 July 2012
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Commenting on today’s government announcements on the funding of social care, Prof Philip Booth, Editorial and Programme Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“The government is right to hesitate in capping long-term care costs, a decision that could have been extremely costly and which would have led to ever-greater state regulation of long-term care and also potentially undermined informal care. We should never forget that informal care by family and friends can meet the majority of care needs and, if the government is to provide more care for free, these crucial community networks can be broken down.
“The government’s plan to lend money to the elderly, secured on their homes, has little merit. The government is at risk of doing the precise job that the financial services industry should be doing. It is not the role of government to be providing loans to people secured on their property.”
Notes to editors:
To arrange an interview with an IEA spokesperson, please contact Stephanie Lis, Director of Communications: 020 7799 8909, slis@iea.org.uk
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“The government is right to hesitate in capping long-term care costs, a decision that could have been extremely costly and which would have led to ever-greater state regulation of long-term care and also potentially undermined informal care. We should never forget that informal care by family and friends can meet the majority of care needs and, if the government is to provide more care for free, these crucial community networks can be broken down.
“The government’s plan to lend money to the elderly, secured on their homes, has little merit. The government is at risk of doing the precise job that the financial services industry should be doing. It is not the role of government to be providing loans to people secured on their property.”
Notes to editors:
To arrange an interview with an IEA spokesperson, please contact Stephanie Lis, Director of Communications: 020 7799 8909, slis@iea.org.uk
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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