The Labour government has hit the ground running.
The King’s Speech included no less than 40 bills covering a range of policy areas from economic stability and growth to health and national security.
We were even pleasantly surprised by a pension schemes bill.
But the government has also been quick to set out what is sees as the ‘black hole’ in the nation’s finances, which it puts at £22bn.
Here, too, it has made some immediate decisions, this time on what not to take forward.
While it was the announcement on means-testing winter fuel payments that grabbed the headlines, a potentially more significant longer-term casualty was the decision not to take forward the Conservatives’ social care reforms.
These reforms were to have been implemented in October 2025.
While the number of individuals affected by their cancellation may fall short of the reported 10mn who will lose their winter fuel allowance, the size of the loss at individual or family level will be far greater.
The Department of Health and Social Care estimates that one in seven people will face costs of more than £100,000. That is 500 years of £200 winter fuel allowances.
Perhaps we should not have been surprised.
Not only was social care funding largely absent from the manifesto, it also failed to get mentioned in the King’s Speech.
Labour did have a section in its manifesto on social care. This talked of country-wide, consistent and high-quality care and introducing a fair pay agreement for carers.
Alongside these measures it said: "We will build consensus for the longer-term reform needed to create a sustainable National Care Service," and "explore how we best manage and support an ageing population".
But what exactly does that mean?
Is the government really supporting an ageing population in a sustainable way by leaving individuals needing care with a potentially unlimited liability?
Should we not be looking for a demonstrably fairer division between the state and individuals, based on their ability to pay?
In the meantime, there are many ways advisers can use their expertise to explain the situation and put in place some sensible planning measures.
The scrapped Conservative deal
The previous Conservative government was to have ‘sorted’ social care with a new funding deal originally scheduled for October 2023.
In line with proposals put forward by Andrew Dilnot’s Commission in 2011, the deal included a cap on eligible care costs.
I saw the deal as offering much needed clarity on how much individuals in England would be asked to pay for social care if needed in later life. The rules are different elsewhere in the UK.
But the two-year delay took us beyond the election, and the new chancellor has explained that as the new deal had not been funded, it was "impossible to take it forward fully at this time".
