Age UK attacks Government U-turn on human rights amendment

The law should be the same for all care service users, according to leading older people’s charity Age UK, who are critical of the Government for seeking to disregard a key Care Bill amendment.

Ensuring that people who pay for care have the same rights as those who receive it from the State was the target of Care Bill amendment Clause 48, an addition voted in by the House of Lords last year.

However, Care Services Minister Norman Lamb has now tabled an amendment to remove the Clause, believing that service users do not need an additional contract to that they already hold with their provider.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, defends the amendment, saying: “Under the current system, two older people in the same care home can receive very different levels of protection under the Human Rights Act based solely on how their care has been arranged and paid for.

“This is not only fundamentally wrong, it means that if an older person who pays for their care is abused or suffers from neglect and poor care they have less legal redress than someone in the same unfortunate position whose care is funded by the State.”

She continues: “175,000 older people in independent care homes pay for their own care in this country and it is appalling that they are second class citizens when it comes to the legal remedies available to them if they are abused or neglected.

“The House of Lords made the right decision when they decided to amend the Care Bill by closing the loophole once and for all and the Government should support their decision, not seek to overturn it.

“We are disappointed and surprised that the Government wants to keep this loophole intact because they have said they want to improve the position of older people who pay for their own care through this legislation.

“There is no better way to achieve this than by granting every older person equal access to legal redress if their care goes badly wrong.”

The charity are hoping to gain support via their online petition: e-activist.com/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=31&ea.campaign.id=24857