Welfare

A to Z: mapping long-term care markets

Claudia Wood
Claudia Wood

This report describes and assesses the market of long-term care based on analysis conducted by Deloitte for the Resolution Foundation. It provides an overview of how long-term care functions and whether it is fit for purpose.

Key findings

  • The first section describes and explains the market functions of long-term care in a mapping exercise, before assessing, in the second section, how well it operates according to two criteria – efficiency and fairness. This second criteria has been included to take into account that the long-term care market is not a private market, but one which deals with a social good, and so ought not to be purely ‘efficient’ to the detriment of being ‘fair’.
  • The third section of the report then reflects on some key developments that will have a significant impact on the market in the near future. This illustrates the fragile nature of the current market; specific areas of weakness identified include informal care, navigation and availability of advice, funding, local markets and responsiveness of supply.
  • The report concludes that a ‘care crunch’ is likely and will only be avoided through realistic reform of the long-term care system, which ought to be based on an overall vision of what an efficient and fair long-term care market ought to look like in the future.

Further reading

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Assessing where Universal Credit’s long roll-out has left the benefit system and the country
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Happy new tax year
Six big changes to pay, tax and benefit policy – and how they affect households across Britain
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Torsten Bell, Adam Corlett, Alex Clegg
Pensioner progress
The impact of personal tax and benefit changes since 2010 on pensioner families
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Mike Brewer, Alex Clegg, Lalitha Try
Claudia Wood
Claudia Wood Former Head of Policy and Research