Kames Capital has renewed calls for the Government to take action on the findings of the Dilnot Report into funding for long term care.
It has now been a year since the Commission on Funding for Care and Support, which was chaired by leading economist Andrew Dilnot, published its recommendations in a report entitled ‘Fairer Funding for All.'
In the report the Commission proposed that an individual's lifetime contribution towards their social care costs should be capped at £35,000 and once this limit is reached then they would be eligible for full state support. It also proposed that the means tested threshold above which people are liable for their full care costs should be raised to £100,000 from £23,250 at the time of the report.
However a year has now passed and there has still not been any firm actions, or indication of its preferred option, by the Government to address the care funding issue. This has led to one of Dilnot's co-commissioners, Labour peer Lord Norman Warner, to recently accuse the Government of ‘kicking the findings into the long grass' as he called for the resurrection of a ‘death tax' whereby the cost of care is recouped from the persons estate on their death.
Kames Capital, whilst not advocating the ‘death tax' outlined by Warner, believes his latest intervention underlines the urgent need for clarity on the future funding of care for both individuals and providers within the care/nursing home industry. It believes the current inertia means individuals cannot currently plan for their care provision, whilst providers face an uncertain future as they feel the current strain of tightening local authority budgets and they struggle to make plans for their future strategy and business models.
Gillian Bowman the manager of the Kames Target Healthcare Fund says: ‘There is an urgent need for clarity as to what direction the Government is likely to take to meet the ever increasing need for nursing and long term care. The population is increasingly ageing and we cannot sit back and not address this issue of how we, as a country, are going to fund care provision for this growing demographic.
‘Whilst we do not advocate Lord Warner's proposals for a death tax, we do agree with his assertion that something urgently needs to be done to ensure state funded residents receive the care they need and providers of those services are suitably reimbursed to enable them to continue on a sustainable basis.'
The £78.5* million Kames Target Healthcare Fund invests primarily in newly built properties that are designed to be care facilities. This ensures the provision of excellent purpose built accommodation which, in turn, is managed by operators who share the fund's philosophy of providing first class care to those most in need.
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