Social care shake-up delayed again after row over who will pay for new system
Matt Hancock has had to shelve plans for a new system of social care for at least five months
MATT Hancock's plans to shake up OAP care have been delayed by at least another five months, The Sun can reveal.
Sources claim a bitter funding stand-off mean the Social Care Green Paper will not now be published until the Spending Review this autumn.
And one insider said the disagreement between No10, Treasury and the Department for Health was so wide it could be shelved altogether.
They said: “There’s a chance it may just be dropped”.
Ministers are split over how to raise the £3.5billion a year needed to plug a gaping shortfall in money for OAP care.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock is said to be keen on an US insurance-style scheme where older Brits could save more for better care in old age.
But Downing Street is terrified of confronting older Conservative voters with any proposals given the disastrous “Dementia Tax” fiasco of the 2017 election.
News of the delay will incense backbenchers and health professionals who have warned about a social care “timebomb”.
Theresa May in 2017 said the Government could no longer “duck” the issue. It was originally due in the summer of 2017, then before the end of 2018.
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New Health Secretary Matt Hancock in January then promised it would come by April 1 – before telling MPs it was being held up once more.
One idea being debated is whether to produce a green paper without any funding proposals – so the Government can push ahead with some policies needed to improve care.
A health source tonight blamed a “lack of bandwidth” in Government for the failure to get an agreement. They said: “We’re as frustrated as anyone else – we just want to get this done.”
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