The Prime Minister said the issue had been “neglected” by previous governments, but has yet to outline how it will be funded
Andy Burnham will unveil plans next week to fix adult social care, which he believes has been ‘neglected’ by previous governments.
On Monday, the Prime Minister told journalists that social care should be delivered ‘on an NHS basis’, i.e. free at the point of delivery and funded by some form of taxation.
Unlike NHS care, social care is not free and high costs often mean people are forced to sell their homes to pay for what they need.
Those with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with the cost of care from their local council.
Mr Burnham told reporters he was ‘ready to use some of my political capital on this issue’ and that it would not be ‘defensible’ to leave office without having reformed social care.
However, he has yet to confirm how it will be funded.
Labour, under Sir Keir Starmer, faced criticism after the party was elected in 2024 for scrapping plans for an £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England would need to spend on their personal care over their lifetime, having argued the proposals were not ‘deliverable’ in the time frame.
Mr Burnham said the failure to act over recent decades was ‘not defensible’.
According to the Health Foundation, providing universal social care could cost an extra £18.4billion – that funding will have to come from some form of taxation.
This weekend, The Times newspaper reported that Mr Burnham’s proposals were unlikely to cover ‘daily living costs’ of a care home, such as laundry, food, accommodation and energy bills.
The paper reported that it could mean that home residents may still face financially ruinous bills under a new National Care Service.
At a fringe meeting at Labour’s annual conference in 2021 suggested a care levy of 10 per cent on ‘everyone’s assets, savings and homes’ could help towards the costs, with a payment plan possibly to be agreed when someone reaches the age of 65.
He said at the time: “I don’t think you can say we are going to have a new system of social care without the older generation making a contribution to that.
“Because it’s a care levy and not an inheritance tax, it is linked to what you are getting… even if you don’t need care in your lifetime… you’re getting peace of mind, the peace of mind the NHS provides for you.”
Leading with plans for a care levy could risk reigniting the infamous ‘death tax’ row regarding Mr Burnham’s previous plans in 2010.
When he was Health Secretary, Mr Burnham said a compulsory levy on estates to pay for free personal care at home for the elderly was just one of the options set out in a Green Paper on creating a National Care Service (NCS).
Andrew Lansley, from the Conservative Party, refused to back the plans, calling it a ‘death tax’.
Mr Burnham accused them of ‘scaremongering’.
A No 10 source said: “Andy is going to run towards problems that have been neglected, giving people hope again.
“He has the courage to fix the most difficult issues that have been ignored for years and seen as impossible to resolve. He doesn’t accept that they are.
“They can’t be ignored any longer. The Prime Minister is determined to show that governments can make people’s lives better if they choose to.”
A few weeks ago, Mr Burnham acknowledged there was ‘great resentment’ towards inheritance tax, which is why he proposed a care levy instead.
Inheritance Tax is levied at 40 percent on the value of an estate worth over £325,000 threshold, though there are various other allowances that mean the actual threshold for many families can be £1million.
It is unclear if Mr Burnham will scrap this tax.
The Prime Minister and his new Chancellor, John Healey, are already under pressure to say how they will pay for the various measures announced earlier this week, including a nationwide £2 cap on bus fares, scraping VAT on electricity bills, and reducing business rates on pubs and music venues.
The Resolution Foundation has estimated that the pledges will cost a total of more than £2 billion in 2029/30.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login