General Insurance Article - Doubt that main political parties will reform social care

 Asked how likely it was that either of the three parties would set out a clearly defined policy on social care within the first two years of forming a government, 54% thought it unlikely that Labour or the Conservatives would act and 56% said it was not likely the Liberal Democrats would act.

 Conversely, 20% thought it was likely that Labour would set out a policy within two years of forming a government, 17% for the Conservatives and 14% for the Liberal Democrats.

 “Reform of the adult social care system has been touched on in the Conservative leadership election but needs to be pushed up the priority order for whichever party next gets into government,” said Stephen Lowe, group communications director at Just Group.

 “As we await a much-delayed green paper setting out the Conservative’s plans for reform, there is a feeling that politicians are willing to talk about the issue but the public remains sceptical that politicians will actually grasp the nettle and take much-needed action.”

 He said that the Care Report 2019 also found a dip in interest in the care debate among over-45s compared to previous years and a belief that social care policy is being neglected due to Brexit.

 He added: “The current system in England is creaking at the seams with four in five of those who had personal experience of organising care for friends or family stating they found the process stressful, two-thirds saying it was difficult to find the right information and nine in 10 ‘shocked’ at the cost.

 “Funding future care needs is something people would ideally plan for rather than leaving to the point of need when options are more limited. Even among over-75s only one in 10 (12%) said they have made financial provisions for their own care.