A review of the issues around paying for long-term care for older people, asking how the current system could be improved. This study brings together evidence and discussions assembled by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It identifies some key challenges that need addressing in order to start moving towards a fairer, more rational and adequate system of funding It deliberately avoids proposing a radical redesign of the whole system, though there is a case for that. Rather it provides a platform for sensible discussion of how to design improvements in the funding system.