Liz Kendall: government making “massive mistake” on social care

On the eve of publication of the government’s care and support white paper, Liz Kendall tells the Fabian Review that the Treasury would be making a “massive mistake” not to support Andrew Dilnot’s proposed £35,000 cap on individual payments of care costs.

Although the government supports the broad principles of the Dilnot review, it is thought that tomorrow’s white paper won’t commit to funding them.

Kendall says that “We’re very concerned that the Treasury doesn’t support Dilnot. It’s a massive mistake. Health and social care will be the primary pressure on public finances, and without reform funding will be unsustainable.”

Speaking to Mary Riddell, she says Labour wants “to solve the problem as soon as possible. We want it done in this parliament. We’d like to see agreement before the spending review.”

“We have to have a fair system across generations. When young people face tuition fees, squeezed incomes and high costs of living, it’s very hard to ask that the entire payment come from the working age population. We’re not saying we’re going to do a care levy. That was our proposal at the last election, but you have to look at how costs are fairly shared. I want to avoid a clash of the generations.”

“Before the election, one of the options we looked at [was a care levy]. The Tories called it a death tax , but it was [meant to be] a way to protect everybody; a small levy to guarantee that you kept the majority of your home to pass on to your children rather than having to sell it to pay catastrophic care costs.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Kendall says there won’t be “another massive reorganisation” of the NHS if Labour wins the next election. A former special adviser, she also supports proposals for non-SPAD shortlists for parliamentary seats.

Read the full Fabian Interview with Liz Kendall

The summer Fabian Review is published Thursday 19th July