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You could be forgiven for treating the government’s promise radically to rethink long-term care for the elderly with some scepticism.
Many promises from Labour to reform the controversial funding system of social care have come to nothing, including a Royal Commission which recommended free personal care for all.
That was deemed too expensive and killed off with lightning speed, although it has been adopted in Scotland.
Insiders say that the government has now finally accepted that the current system, developed along with the NHS 60 years ago, is unsustainable.
The ageing population and the increase in disabled people living longer and fuller lives means that the demand for help with day-to-day living is rocketing.
Yet tighter and tighter restrictions from local authorities on who qualifies for help means that ever increasing numbers of families are forced to make huge financial sacrifices, such as selling their home, to pay for it. Others end up giving up their jobs to care for elderly relatives themselves, because the cost of care is too high, or the quality too low.
One of the key things that will have to be addressed is the “cliff edge” - the financial cut-off that dictates that anyone with a home or other assets worth £21,000 or more gets no help at all. Any reform could mean even more unpopular means-testing, although more people might qualify for help as a result.
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