Lamb hints that help may extend outside eligibility criteria

Care minister Norman Lamb has indicated that people who do not meet the highest eligibility criteria may still get some state-funded help. As the Care and Support Bill is moved forward, he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that Department of Health (DH) officials are drawing up plans for further plans and a more sophisticated approach’. This would be to avoid a situation whereby older and vulnerable people were told to go away and get sicker’. The Bill paves the way for a set of National Eligibility Criteria, which the DH propose would be equivalent to substantial’ needs under the current system meaning that people with both substantial and critical needs would be covered. The levels proposed have been set at what the DH believes is a level that will enable local authorities to continue to maintain the level of services they are providing when they transition to the new care and support system.