The National Audit Office (NAO) has continued to monitor service provision and its funding. In March 2014, the report Adult social care in England: overview highlighted the challenges in making adequate provision. Planning for a Better Care Fund (November 2014) comments on a programme to integrate health and social care in which the quality of the early planning did not match the scale of the ambition.
The Parliamentary Select Committees have continued to scrutinise the work of Government departments. The Health Committee’s fifth report of session 2014-15 looked at End of life care since the independent Review of the Liverpool Care Pathway chaired by Baroness Neuberger. The Committee’s second report of 2014-15 looked at Managing the care of people with long-term conditions
The Work and Pensions Committee’s third report of 2014-15 (published 13 February 2015), Appointment of the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman reports on the Committee’s pre-appointment hearing. The Committee’s fourth report of session 2014-15 (published 10 March 2015) Progress with automatic enrolment and pension reforms recommends that the next Government establishes an independent pension commission. Although there has been a low opt-out rate for auto-enrolment (AE), this may not be indicative of the policy’s effectiveness in the longer term.
During session 2012-13, the House of Lords Select Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change produced a report, Ready for ageing? The Committee warned that the Government and our society are woefully unprepared for ageing.
The report considers later working, reforming pensions and savings, and using the value in our homes as ways of supporting ourselves through later life. It also outlines issues relating to living independently and well: the increasing pressures on health and social care; care at home (wherever possible); personalised care; and housing and wider public services. Most of the report comprises annexes on matters raised in the report, including demographic change, attitudes to ageing, economic and fiscal aspects of the ageing population, fairness within and between the generations, informal care, and service design and delivery. There is more information in the oral and written evidence and written evidence to the Committee from organisations and eminent gerontologists. Less...

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Protecting and improving our National Health Service(pp 37-40): spend “at least an additional £8 billion by 2020 over and above inflation to fund and support the NHS’s own action plan for the next five years”; everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment if they need one; integrate health and social care through Better Care Fund; and lead the world in fighting cancer and finding a cure for dementia.

Dignity in your retirement (pp 65-68): take family home out of Inheritance Tax; increase the State Pension so it rises by 2.5%, inflation or earnings whichever is the highest; reward saving by introducing a new single-tier pension; give the freedom to invest and spend pension however you like; protect pensioner benefits; and make sure no-one is forced to sell their home to pay for care.
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Pensions

Liberal Democrats will: Continue the introduction of our simpler single tier pension so people can plan ahead securely, and feel the benefit of every pound they save; Legislate for the Liberal Democrat ‘triple lock’ of increasing the State Pension each year by the highest of earnings growth, prices growth or 2.5%; Ensure pensioners are eligible to gain from the increased Personal Allowance of £12,500; Improve workplace pensions and continue to auto-enrol workers, completing the rollout of this scheme in full and on time and crack down on charges and encourage people to save more into their pension pot through this scheme; Press ahead with plans to allow people more freedom in the use of their pension pots and to allow existing pensioners to sell their annuity; Establish a review to consider the case for, and practical implications of, introducing a single rate of tax relief for pensions, which would be designed to be simpler and fairer and which would be set more generously than the current 20% basic rate relief.

Care in older age
In the last parliament Liberal Democrats capped the cost of care, so older people can afford to get the help they need. In the next parliament they will crack down on bad care, with better pay and conditions for care staff and higher standards for all.

Housing
All areas will be expected to plan for the needs of older people for age-appropriate housing and we will work with Local Authorities to help people who wish to ‘right size’, particularly in later life.

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Older people
Older people deserve to live a fulfilling life, to continue working if they wish, and to enjoy a secure retirement. Labour will keep the triple-lock so that the state pension increases by inflation, earnings, or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest. Proposes restricting Winter Fuel Payments for the richest 5%, but for no additional changes to free TV licences or bus passes. Also proposes reforming the pension market so that pension providers put savers first and protect consumers.

Care in older age
There is an emphasis on prevention and early intervention; also recognition of problems of care workers’ 15-minute visits. Proposals include recruiting 5,000 new home-care workers, as “a new arm of the NHS”. Help also for carers to be linked up with support, including breaks.

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Older People and Pensions
"The Green Party's policy for older people is simple. First they are people and have the same rights and hopes as everyone else. They should be treated fairly and equally in employment, education, healthcare and avenues of enterprise. Ambition should not be shut off just because we get older.
Second there are certain things we should be able to rely on without the indignity of means testing. The most basic is a universal state pension. We would introduce a Citizen's Pension, paid to all pensioners regardless of contribution record from 2016, so no pensioner will live in poverty."

The Green Party would also: expand primary and community care; adopt a person-centred approach to the NHS; tackle the mental health crisis; provide free social care funded by taxation; keep bus passes and Winter Fuel Payments; support enforcing the rights of older people through the Dignity Code; make sure that older people living abroad receive the same pension and annual pension increase as those living in the UK; support 20mph zones to make streets safe and useful for older people; and keep the NHS as a public service, comprehensive and free at the point of delivery in recognition that older people have already paid for these things.

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UKIP
The UKIP manifesto includes sections on the NHS – free at the point of delivery: UKIP will fund 8,000 more GPs, 20,000 more nurses, improved mental health services, dementia treatment and research. UKIP is opposed to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The manifesto includes a pledge to increase social care funding by £1.2 billion each year, phasing in increase over a 2-year period, to bring investment back to 2010 levels and pay for additional residential, nursing and home care services.
Pensions: UKIP proposes a flexible state pension window: over time raise SPA to 69 but allowing a lower weekly state pension at 65. Fairer welfare system, opposed to “benefits lifestyle”; but will increase Carers’ Allowance from £42.10 per week to £73.10.

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The Scottish National Party
SNP MPs will demand an end to austerity. "We oppose further spending cuts and propose modest spending increases - of 0.5 per cent above inflation - in each year of the next Parliament."
"We will meet the NHS funding challenge laid down in the report of the NHS Chief Executive in England – the Stevens Report - and vote for an increase in NHS spending across the UK of £24 billion by 2020-21 - £9.5 billion above inflation."
SNP MPs will also vote against any further privatisation of the NHS in England and back any moves to restore it to a fully public service.
A fair deal for older Scots
"We will continue to support older Scots, by retaining key policies such as the free bus pass and free personal care and we’ll back the continuation of the free TV license. At Westminster, we will call for the pension triple lock to be retained, ensuring the State Pension increases each year in line with inflation, wages or by 2.5 per cent, whichever is higher. And, we will support for a Single Tier Pension rate of £160 per week. We will oppose the abolition of Savings Credit – introduced to reward people for saving for their pension. We believe that there should be a review of plans to increase the state pension age beyond 66. And, given Scotland’s colder climate, we will also resist any attempts to end the winter fuel allowance.
We will continue to support the roll out of auto enrolment for occupational pensions and also back, in principle, proposals to give pensioners more flexibility over their pension pots. However, we must ensure adequate levels of advice and support. We will work with pensioner groups to identify and target unfair, hidden pension charges."

Plaid Cymru
"If older people wish to find work after reaching pensionable age then they should be supported to do so and we will work with employers to ensure this.
We will work with third sector organisations and the Police to prevent the exploitation of older people through various forms of ‘scams’.
The elderly and vulnerable people must be treated with understanding and respect. We will improve on the methods and frequencies of inspections of the care provided in hospitals, care homes and nursing homes to ensure this.
We will work to tackle the growing problem of isolation and loneliness among older people by ensuring that community workers are able to spend more time with older people than is currently the case. We will provide opportunities for older people to remain socially, physically and mentally active into later life. We will protect the free bus pass service that helps older people travel safely in their communities."

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