The Queen’s speech at the State Opening of Parliament did not offer much hoped for clarity on the roadmap to social care reform despite a reference to bringing forward the reforms.

Social care changes have been promised by the government since their 2019 manifesto promise to seek cross-party consensus on proposals for long term form of social care with the aim that no one needs to sell their home to pay for the costs of care.

Speaking at the House of Lords today, the Queen promised that the social care reforms would be brought forward but the speech offered no further detail or time frames.

Peter Hamilton, head of market engagement at Zurich, was disappointed that more detail on the social care reforms was not given in the speech.

He said: “The lack of detail on Social Care reform may not be entirely surprising, given so many false starts, but it is disappointing.  The ongoing challenges in care homes caused by the pandemic simply reinforced the urgent need for change and for addressing the inadequacies and inconsistencies in the current system. 

“Commitment is needed to introduce measures that will ensure clarity for people around the level of support they can expect to receive from the State, as well as what they will be expected to contribute themselves. And of course with that comes the need for serious additional funding.  Without this, we will continue to see inconsistency and unfairness as people grapple with a complex system, unable to make any sort of financial provision or plan for their own futures or those of loved ones.”

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, shared Mr Hamilton’s disappointment at the lack of clarification.

He also shared concerns about how the reforms will be funded. He said: ““While we may see some discussion around improving delivery of social care, the Queen’s Speech offered no new clarity on how the Government will address the other half of the issue, the highly interconnected question of how social care will be funded. The Government needs to gain public and cross-party support for a deal to share costs between the state and individuals, based on their wealth. This needs to be fair across wealth bands and generations.

“The Government’s share needs to be backed up by sustainable and adequate funding, accepting this may involve raising taxes either on income or wealth. This is further complicated by the government’s 2019 election manifesto ‘triple tax lock’ commitment not to raise rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT. It could explore options concerning wealth taxes, or extend National Insurance to earned income above state pension age, which is currently exempt. Another option would be introducing a completely new tax, earmarked specifically for social care, possibly levied on those above a certain age.

“Individuals also need incentives to save for their share without facing unlimited or ‘catastrophic’ personal costs. We strongly support a cap on how much any individual will be asked to pay for care costs and clarity on any separate charges for ‘room and board’.

“Increasingly, preparing for possible care costs will become part of managing pension, property and other savings wealth into and through retirement. Financial advice will play a hugely important role in ensuring people make the right decisions for an uncertain future.”

The Queen’s Speech also confirmed that the Online Safety Bill will be introduced, but did not include any specific mentions of the inclusion of financial scams.