Summary
YESTERDAY'S Court of Session decision by Lord Macphail has thrown the legislation on the provision of free care for the elderly into confusion. In essence, he has ruled that the law on free personal care for the elderly does not require Scottish councils automatically to foot the bill in all circumstances - something MSPs thought was the very essence of the 2002 Act. The problem is not so much Lord Macphail's judgment as the difficulty he had in interpreting what is a very badly worded piece of legislation.
The intent of the original legislation was to provide free home and residential care for all, thus removing the anomaly whereby those who had actually saved for their old age were forced to sell their homes to pay for their own care, while those without means were funded by the state. The reform proved very popular though the Scottish Executive was chided - rightly - at the time for not thinking through the immense financial implications in future decades.See the full content of this document
Extract
Leader: Time for a Review of Free Care for Elderly Law
But no sooner had free care been passed into law, than various holes in the legislation appeared. Just what constituted care? Were local authorities entitled to establish waiting lists for access to free care? What happens if a counc...
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