Poll truce call over care of elderly

An influential cross-party committee of MPs said the issue was too important for "political point-scoring" and called on the parties to seek consensus early in the next Parliament in order to deliver fundamental reform.

A failure to do so would "betray current and future generations", said the House of Commons Health Committee in a report released today.

The report was highly critical of the Government's Personal Care at Home Bill, which will offer free care in the home for around 280,000 of those in greatest need.

The Bill, currently going through Parliament, was announced to widespread surprise by Gordon Brown at Labour's conference last autumn in the middle of a consultation period on wider reforms to set up a National Care Service.

Inter-party talks on the reform of the social care system broke down over the issue of a proposed compulsory levy to fund a new national service, which was branded a "death tax" by Tories.

The Government ruled out a flat-rate 20,000 tax levied on estates after an individual's death, but Health Secretary Andy Burnham indicated on Wednesday that he was actively considering a levy on estates, possibly 10 per cent.

Other options included in last July's Government Green Paper included increased state funding from general taxation and a voluntary insurance option, which could cost as much as 25,000. Tories are proposing voluntary insurance, which they say could be charged at around 8,000 to be paid at retirement age.

Today's Health Committee report said there was a powerful argument for reform of the current system, which it says "provides a safety net service rather than a universal one, is chronically underfunded and is insufficiently focused on the needs and aspirations of individual people".

But it added: "Worthwhile and lasting reform will only be achieved if consensus can be reached...so that the necessary tough decisions can be taken with broad popular support...

"We would have liked to see all the political parties come together to map out sustainable reform, instead of indulging in pre-election point-scoring.

"There is still an opportunity in advance of the demographic changes to come to reform social care, achieving consensus and creating a lasting solution."

Committee chairman Kevin Barron said: "We don't want this issue to be turned into an election football for it to be kicked back into the long grass again in a few weeks."

The report concluded that the Government had waited too long to bring forward proposals, some 13 years after former Prime Minister Tony Blair said it would be done.

And the committee urged Ministers not to rule out the option of funding social care from general taxation, something which Mr Burnham this week said would not be fair to the working-age population.

"Free care funded from taxation is ruled out by the Government as it would place a 'heavy burden' on working-age taxpayers," said the report. "However, this option has many supporters and most of the arguments against it apply just as much to the idea of a free NHS.

"The tax-funded option should be debated to gauge whether people are prepared to pay higher taxes or wish to see tax revenue diverted from other spending."

The committee expressed "strong misgivings" about Mr Brown's care at home Bill, saying it "smacks of policy on the hoof."

"This piecemeal reform risks creating perverse incentives and introducing unanticipated consequences," warned the report.