Long-term care funding was on the agenda at the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday, at a fringe meeting organised by the Fabian Society and sponsored by PPP Lifetime Care and the Carers' National Association.
Speakers scheduled to attend the debate were Stephen Timms MP, financial secretary to the Treasury, Lord David Lipsy, a signatory to the dissident minority report of the Royal Commission on Long-term Care and Robin Wendt, a signatory to its majority report.
Baroness Pitkeathly, former chief executive of the Carers' National Association, was due to chair the debate.
The debate comes after one year of silence from the government following the Royal Commission's publication of its proposals for the funding of care for people in residential homes. The government's NHS plan, published in July, proposed that the state would pay only for the cost of nursing care, at an estimated annual cost to the Treasury of £1bn. All other care costs should be met by means testing.
Nursing home residents are currently restricted to having assets of around £16,000, which means many who enter residential care have to sell their homes.
The majority report of the Royal Commission recommended that people should only be means tested for the cost of accommodation with all other care provided.
The minority report disagreed and recommended that only nursing care should be paid for by the state and other costs covered by insurance and savings.
