A new report has made recommendations regarding the provision of adult social care in England.

A ‘blueprint’ for adult social care has been created that will see 50% more people helped, because “doing nothing is the least palatable option”, according to a new report.

The new report is an update on the 2006 Sir Derek Wanless review of social care, Securing Good Care for Older People. The King’s Fund, which carried out the report, has found that the current cost of care is set to double to £12.1 billion in the next 15 years.

Currently, pensioners with more than £23,000 savings or assets have to foot their entire care cost bill.

One of the recommendations within the report sees the state guaranteeing to pay 50% of people’s care costs and matching individual’s contributions in an effort to encourage people to save for their old age. So for every £2 that individuals pay themselves, the government should match with £1. Those with less than £23,000 savings will have their care bill paid by the state.

Richard Humphries, lead author of the report, told the Daily Telegraph: “If you’re very poor you get your care for free, and if you’re very rich you can afford to pay for it. But the people who lose out are the ones in the middle and those are the ones our partnership model would benefit the most.

“At the moment if you have £23,000 to your name and you need to go into a residential home, you have to foot the whole bill. But £23,000 is peanuts to a lot of people and it’s not fair.”

England’s views and actions on social care differ greatly from other developed countries. In many countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Australia, individuals’ assets or housing equity are never used to fund long-term care. These countries also have a more universal approach to social care compared to England.

Dr Anna Dixon, Interim Chief Executive of The King’s Fund, believes the recommendations are both affordable and achievable in the long term. She said: “The current social care system often falls short of meeting the needs of the people who rely on it and will not be able to cope with increasing demand for services as the population ages.

“The people who stand to benefit most from our proposals are those on moderate and middle incomes who are heavily penalised by the current system.”