One of the biggest secrets of ageing is revealed: the Dilnot Report is published today.

One of the biggest secrets of ageing is revealed: the so-called ‘Dilnot Report’ (actual title: Fairer Care Funding) is published today (July 4th). This is the report and recommendations made to the UK Government by the Commission on Funding of Care and Support, a body chaired by Andrew Dilnot, a respected economist, statistician and academic.

The Commission was set up by Government as an independent body to make recommendations on how to achieve an affordable and sustainable funding system for care and support, for all adults in England. The most significant group affected by this is the UK’s growing elderly population.

So far, so pedantic, you might think. But I make no apology for spelling out the boring detail: this report is important, it affects all of us, and yet it will pass most people by. In fact, if you’ve read this far, the chances are that you are professionally or personally involved in this issue.

If the report achieves nothing else, it will have highlighted that not only do most people not think about how they will plan and prepare for an extended old age, they also do not even want to think about it. As with individuals, so with society: age, ageing and death remain cultural taboos in the UK, Europe’s most ageist society. It is now that bit harder to bury your head in the sand: one of the biggest secrets of ageing – what happens when you can no longer care for yourself – has now been revealed to a wider audience.

And what happens is this: you will live in a care home, which will be much more expensive than you expected. You will have to pay for it all yourself – and the cost can easily be £50,000 per annum for the rest of your life – unless or until your total assets are below £23,350. You – and your relatives – will only discover the full reality of this at a time when you have no other options. As the report states, the current system is ‘confusing, unfair and unsustainable’.

The report makes a number of visionary recommendations. The two most significant are probably these:

· Individuals contributions towards their social care costs – potentially unlimited at present – should be capped.
· The means-tested threshold should be increased from £23,250 to £100,000.

We will have to wait and see what actions the Government now takes. The total cost of the recommendations is estimated at £1.7bn and the funding considerations include increased taxation, national insurance schemes and private insurance schemes. None of these are likely to be politically attractive.

But one thing’s for sure: the secret is now out. Can you and your family afford to live longer?

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To read the report in full, http://www.dilnotcommission.dh.gov.uk/

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