What will Prime Minister Boris mean for adult social care?
Mei-Ling Huang, a Partner is the Social Care team at the law firm RWK Goodman comments.
"The process of deciding our new Prime Minister has been firmly through the lens of Brexit, with social care being given scant attention. The promises made unfortunately sound like empty political rhetoric.
"Boris Johnson has promised that no-one should be evicted from their family home to pay for the cost of care, adding that he will look to the ‘spirit of cross-party agreement’ to bring forward proposals. And that is pretty much it. No explanation on how it will be implemented or funded."
"The proposals from the new Prime Minister are at best weak and most likely undeliverable. Policy proposals from both sides of the political spectrum have been immediately criticised as a 'dementia tax' and a 'death tax' resulting in inaction. The increasingly tribal nature of our politics makes any cross-party approach unlikely."
"Sadly, it seems that only a scandal will focus the minds of ministers, and that cannot be acceptable."
Mei-Ling adds that the warning signs of an impending scandal are increasingly clear, with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services in June this year highlighting over £7bn of savings they have been forced to make over the past decade, and a further £700m of saving needed to be made in this financial year alone.
"The demand for social care is increasing at a time when spending cuts are digging ever harder. Staff costs are rising at a time when immigration controls are being tightened. We are still waiting on the publication of the social care green paper, and yet our politicians still look to dodge the serious debate that is needed.
"We understand that there are many pressing priorities for the incoming Prime Minister but delivering a basic level of care for the most vulnerable in a civilised society must be top of that list. We would urge the Prime Minister to engage in a meaningful discussion on the future of adult social care as one of the top priorities."