Milburn backs radical plans on elderly care
Downing Street’s chief policy and election strategist is to proffer new plans to “privatise” care for the elderly.
Blairite Alan Milburn is supporting plans to give pensioners a voucher system to access services.
Newspapers claim the idea, which will hand the elderly vouchers or an electronic smart card, will find its way into New Labour’s general election manifesto.
The vouchers can be used for a wide variety of purposes including free public transport, meals on wheels, and long-term care, with private firms allowed to bid for custom.
The voucher scheme is perceived as a mechanism to move delivery away from local authorities and empower the end-user with more choice.
The plans are consistent with the Prime Minister’s pledge to fight a “choice” agenda at the next election.
But, Help the Aged’s Andrea Lane, told The Sunday Telegraph the plan may make life more inconvenient for the most vulnerable in society.
And the policy shift may put Mr Milburn at loggerheads with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who have reportedly not been briefed on the issue.
