The Liberal Democrats have accused the government of “kicking the can down the road,”  after it was announced a long-awaited Green Paper on tackling the social care crisis will be delayed until next Summer.

Liberal Democrat former Health Minister Norman Lamb commented:

“This Government is completely failing to address the social care crisis which has left over a million vulnerable older people without the support they need.

“It is outrageous that they are now kicking the can further down the road, leaving the social care sector in a state of uncertainty.

“In the Coalition we reached an agreement to cap social care costs, only for the Conservatives to drop this commitment and offer no acceptable alternative in its place.

“With a projected funding gap of over £2 billion in adult social care by 2020, I have to wonder how much worse things have to get before the Government will act.”

Notes:

The government announcement on the social care Green Paper being delayed until Summer 2018 can be found here.

AgeUK estimates that 1.2 million people aged 65 plus don’t receive the care support they need with essential living activities (link)

The Local Government Association estimates that adult social care services will face a funding gap of £1 billion by 2019/20, and that an additional £1.3 billion is required immediately to stabilise the adult social care provider market (link)