From Commission to Commission: Financing Long-Term Care in England

The financing of long-term care (LTC) has been among the most debated social policy issues in England since at least the mid-1990s (Royal Commission on Long Term Care, 1999; Brooks et al., 2002; JRF, 2006; Wanless et al., 2006, HM Government, 2010a). Underlying the debate are concerns about both the future affordability of LTC and the fairness of the current funding system. The key issue in the financing debate is how far people should fund their own care and how far they should be publicly funded, in particular whether public funds for LTC should benefit only those who cannot afford to pay for themselves (a residual model) or whether free LTC should be a universal entitlement. The debate started from before the establishment of the Royal Commission on Long Term Care (1999) and has continued, more or less unabated, since then.