About Social Care Funding in UK

                      What is social care?
Social care is the name given to the range of care and support services that help frail and disabled people remain independent, active and safe, for example helping with getting out of bed, washing and preparing meals. Support can be provided in someone’s home, in a community centre or in a care home. What has been announced?
On Monday 11 February, the Government provided some important detailsabout how they will implement the recommendations of the Dilnot Commission which reported in July 2011 with a solution to the problem of how to fund long term social care. They then announced some further amendments as part of the March 2013 Budget. There are three main changes to social care funding:  1. Introducing a lifetime cap on care costs set at £72,000 The Government have said that they will limit the amount anyone has to pay for care to £72,000 (‘the £72,000 cap’) during their lifetime. This cap will apply to the cost of care that people receive either in their own home or living in a care home. It does not include someone's ‘hotel costs’ (i.e. bed and board) if they are living in a care home, these would still be charged separately even after reaching the cap. However hotel costs will be capped as well (see below). 2. Increase the upper level of the means test for people entering residential care to £118,500 The Government have said they would make the means-test (that decides if you are entitled to financial support from your council to help pay your residential care costs) more generous than it is now. At the moment, your capital and savings below £14,250 are disregarded in the means test. If you have between £14,250 and £23,250 in capital and savings and your need for care reaches the threshold set by your local authority then the council will subsidise your care costs according to a sliding scale. If you have capital and savings above £23,250 you will have to fund all of your own social care. Your income is also taken into account in the means test, for example pensions and welfare benefits. The lower capital and savings limit of £14,250 will be retained under the new scheme. Now the Government has announced that it will raise the £23,250 upper limit to £118,500, so in future anyone with assets of between £14,250 and £118,500 whose need for care reaches the appropriate threshold – see more below – will be entitled to some financial support according to a sliding scale. To put it another way, anyone with less than £118,500 in savings will in future be entitled to at least some financial support to help pay their care costs if they need to enter a care home. 3. Capping hotel costs in care homes The third important change the Government announced relates to those ‘hotel costs’, referred to above. In future, they say they will limit these costs to £12,000 a year for everyone. There is one other important change to note. Last year the Government announced it would introduce a national needs test by 2015. At the moment local councils set their own thresholds of seriousness of care needs so there are big variations between different areas – ‘a postcode lottery’. In future, as part of these changes the Government will set out national ‘eligibility criteria’ that will apply to everyone, wherever they live. Age UK is pressing the Government to set these criteria so that as many people as possible can be helped – not just those in the greatest need such as those, for example, who cannot get out of bed or to the toilet without help. The Government hasn’t yet made this crucial decision. How will my contributions towards the cap be calculated?Spending on care and support will be ‘metered’ by your local authority. To be eligible for your meter to start you must first be assessed by your council as having needs that meet the new national criteria. The council will decide how much support you require to meet your needs and set a budget for the cost of this support. It's this figure that will be used to meter spending. So the amount that counts towards your cap will be based on what the local authority estimates it would spend on your care, rather than the actual amount you spend out of your pocket. If you spend more than this figure on care the additional spending will not count towards your cap. It’s important to note that the amount a local authority would be prepared to pay towards the cost of your care is often less than the amount many people are actually charged by care homes. My Question : 1. Why they change the social care ?

2. Why Hotels costs did not include ?

3. If capital and savings below 14.250 euro , why are they disregarded in the means test?

4. What is the announcement about?

5. What is the announcement for?

6.Who should read the announcement?