Baroness Louise Casey said that “difficult questions” need to be asked about who among those classified as disabled should be getting help from the state as some people “struggling beyond belief” are not getting enough.
Her “Big Conversation on Care” being launched later today will seek public opinion on what a social care system should look like, including who should get care and when the state should step in as well as how to pay for it.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In it though, I think we ought to ask some sort of difficult questions. I was quite surprised again, not just about the kind of money around the elderly, but also the Department of Work and Pensions do this kind of deep survey …
“Essentially, if you look at the figures, something like 16.8 million people answered questions that took you to a point that they would be classified by the Department of Work and Pensions as disabled, and I don’t buy it.
“I would qualify, and I’m sitting here right now. I’m not disabled, but I could qualify if I answered those questions based on my medical records, it’s simple as.
“And so I think we’ve just got to get ourselves a little bit more straight on the fact there are some people out there who are listening to this programme that are struggling beyond belief to try and help themselves or get help for their families with very significant disabilities, and the help they’re getting is not enough.
“At the same time … I’m asking the country to just take a breath for a minute and think: ‘who should we be looking after, and how’ is the most important, I think, question facing the British welfare state in the 21st century.”
Baroness Casey said “difficult questions” need to be asked over social care(Image: Iain Buist/Newcastle Chronicle)
