No solution yet to an old-age problem (London Liberal Democrats)

London Liberal Democrats <info@libdems4london.org.uk>

No solution yet to an old-age problem

September 22, 2011 10:59 AM
Originally published by Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats

cable • [Sep 16] Anthony Hilton writes: ACCORDING to Business Secretary Vince Cable, one of the hardest things the Government has to grapple with over the next 12 months has nothing to do with public-sector pensions or bringing the banking industry back to earth, or even coping with the fallout of the slow-motion train wreck that is the eurozone.

In the year when the first of the post-war baby boom turns 65, signalling the beginning of a major increase in the number of retired relative to the numbers still of working age, the challenge he puts near the top of the agenda is how to devise an affordable system of long-term care for elderly people who can no longer look after themselves.

. . We are on the cusp of the party conference season - the Liberal Democrats assemble in Birmingham this weekend for a few days of fun and frolics, with Labour the following week in Liverpool, and Conservatives after that in Manchester.

At these gatherings, there are fringe meetings on almost every conceivable subject - but almost nothing about this huge, central issue. Yet one day it will be a direct concern to at least one in four of us, and Cable is surely right, Dilnot is not the solution - but finding something workable, fair and affordable is a huge challenge. If the people can't afford it and the state can't afford, it who is going to pick up the tab?

• No solution yet to an old-age problem [Hilton, Standard Sep 16]