Social care reform consultation process launched for Wales

As the consultation period for the English social care Green Paper ends, Wales is launching its own consultation process into the future of the country’s social care services and funding structure. The Welsh Green Paper, entitled ‘Paying for care in Wales: creating a fair and sustainable system’, is divided into two parts: the shape of the new social care system and the way in which it will be funded. As the Welsh healthcare system is devolved, they are free to develop their own social care system and, to an extent, decide how it will be funded. However, the country’s welfare and benefits system is still controlled by the UK Government. This means that any changes that are made to English benefits as part of England’s new ‘National Care Service’, such as the proposed abolition of Attendance Allowance, must be implemented in Wales also. It is therefore crucial that the new Welsh social care system is structured in such a way as to remain fair and viable in the light of any enforced changes to the benefits system. Wales also needs to decide if far-reaching English decisions and recommendations, such as Gordon Brown’s pledge to make personal care free to everyone aged over 65 who needs it, are suitable for introduction in Wales, or whether things should be done differently.

The Welsh Green Paper puts forward the same three proposals to fund social care services in future:

• Partnership – the state and the individual both contribute a proportion towards the cost of care, with the Government ‘topping up’ contributions for the less well-off.


• Insurance – people make voluntary payments into private or state-run insurance schemes to guarantee that future care costs will be met.


• Comprehensive – compulsory, lump sum payments into state-run insurance schemes for those who can afford it, to be made on retirement.

Deputy Minister Gwenda Thomas commented on the Green Paper’s publication and the launch of the consultation period: ‘This is a vitally important issue for all of us in Wales and it is essential that we get as wide a debate as possible going on in our homes and communities. I would encourage everybody to read and respond to this Green Paper, so that our discussions with the UK Government are as informed as possible.’ She added that it is ‘...widely acknowledged’ that the current funding system is ‘complicated, unfair and unsustainable in the long term.’

For more information about the consultation process, find out how to respond and to download the Green Paper and supporting documents, please visit the new, dedicated website www.payingforcareinwales.net. The consultation period runs until 28 February 2010.