Splitting the bill: how do different countries balance the costs of social care between individual and state?

GOLTC Social Care Reform in England interest group webinar

Date: 23 November 2026

Time: 12.00-13.00 GMT, you can check your local time here

Link: Register to join on Zoom

With a new Prime Minister in power and a commission underway on the future of social care in England, this is an opportune time to learn from the experiences of other countries. One of the key issues that reform in England will need to explore is to what extent the state should cover the costs of care or leave individuals to pay. In the current English care system, narrow eligibility to state-funded care, based on needs and means, sees the vast majority of costs falling on individuals and their families with very little certainty about who will get funding or what they will be expected to pay. Many other countries, in contrast, have struck a different balance with careful system design based on articulated understanding of fairness and affordability.

This webinar will set out how eleven other countries decide who gets state-funded care and how well protected individuals are. It will highlight the key design choices that the English government faces and the learning that other countries provide. The material presented will be based on the Nuffield Trust’s recent report on international cost-sharing models.

Agenda:

• Introduction and welcome (Adelina Comas-Herrera, Care Policy and Evaluation Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science)
• Presentation by Natasha Curry and Camille Oung (Nuffield Trust)
• Q&A and discussion