Research & Policy / Long Term Care

Long term care

We found that long-term care wasn‘t working for older low earners, who often have over the threshold of assets in their house (£23,000) which can make them ineligible for subsidised care. However, they also have relatively low-incomes which makes paying for care a struggle. Many low earners therefore rely on informal care which might not always meet their needs or go without.

Over the last two years, the Foundation has therefore conducted an extensive programme of research and policy work in the field of long-term care for older people, with a particular focus on the mixed markets in both funding and care provision. The Foundation has produced reports which map the long-term care market, and which suggest what a future architecture for a care and support system could look like. More recently, in 2010, the Foundation published a report which examines the use of equity release as a means for asset-rich, income-poor low earners to meet their care costs. The Resolution Foundation continues to work as part of the Care & Support Alliance to ensure social care reform is a priority for the new government.

Recent events/publications

Funding Future Care Need: the role of councils in supporting individuals to access the capital in their homes and Home Equity: accumulation and decumulation through the life cycle. Peter Williams, Hon Professor, University of York for the Resolution Foundation, March 2010
Lost: Low Earners and the Elderly Care Market An investigation into low earners' experiences and perceptions of the care market, based on a combination of literature reviews and new polling, focus group and interview data
A-Z: Mapping Long Term Care markets An analysis of the long term care system to produce an holistic “market map”, identifying weaknesses in the market which can be modelled to take into account future demographic and policy trends
A series of policy development projects using a range of quantitative and qualitative studies, stakeholder workshops and desk research investigating solutions to the weaknesses of the long term care market. Click the links below to download a discussion paper on each topic:

Navigating care: To establish who needs help navigating the long term care market and what services currently exist in order to identify gaps
Innovation and Efficiency in Long-Term Care: To find out how care providers can be more innovative and efficient and what obstacles they face in meeting these objectives
Local Market Shaping : To examine the different ways that Local Authorities and “market shapers” of the future ensure care markets deliver sufficient volume, diversity, quality and affordability in care
Funding: Examining the range of individual and collective care funding options available, and how these might be developed to meet future challenges

A vision and architecture of a future care system, based on the findings from the four policy development projects (above), was launched on 8 December 2008. Click here to download this report. Click here to download the executive summary

23 November 2009: The Resolution Foundation written response to Shaping the Future of Care Together Read our response

We maintain an ongoing commitment to making the economic case for significant reform to both the funding and delivery models for social care in the UK in the long-term, and will continue to develop our thinking in this area over the remainder of 2009 and in to 2010.

For more information on any aspect of this programme, please contact Sophia Parker.