There is disappointment today for those with long term care needs expecting to receive free personal care in their own homes.
The previous government had planned to provide free personal care for approximately 110,000 people. Carers UK, an organisation representing carers, had been very much in favour of this proposal.
It was estimated this personal care would cost in the region of £540 million a year but many felt that this had been grossly understated and could in fact be double this figure.
Both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives had been opposed to this legislation when it was passed through Parliament.
Richard Humphries, who is a senior fellow of The Kings’ Fund, said he felt that free personal care at home did not really fit with the reform of the care system as the previous government had claimed and that any money available should be used to reform the system as a whole.
The new care services minister Paul Burstow, a Liberal Democrat, has stated that the new coalition government will not implement the main provision of the Personal Care at Home Act 2010 which allowed for those with the highest needs to receive free personal care at home.
However the government has promised that a commission on long term care funding will be set up and that it would report back within a year.
