Means Testing Adult Social Care in England

With the number of U.K. citizens aged 75 and over doubling to 10 million by 2040, social care funding remains a key policy challenge. The Care Act 2014 included reforms designed to make care funding sustainable, by establishing a new level for what individuals and the state will pay in England. However, the Government has postponed their introduction until 2020 amid concerns about cost. This paper uses the delay to investigate the current and proposed means testing formulae and finds fault with both. It proposes an alternative formula called the “preferred formula”, which it argues is fairer and does not require capital limits. It further suggests that the proposed life-time cap care on costs is unnecessary since the preferred formula contains a mechanism that automatically limits asset depletion. Using examples, the research tackles an issue with all means testing which is that it disincentivises saving, so preventing more money entering the care system.