Burnham Unveils 3-Point Plan To Improve Social Care After ‘Shameful’ Neglect Of Sector

Andy Burnham has unveiled a three-point plan to improve the social care sector after years of neglect”in a major speech.

The prime minister promised to use any political capital he has to implement reforms and set up a system comparable to the NHS.

He said the inability to fix the sector has been a “major dereliction of public duty” from past governments.

Burnham also pointed to his own failures to set up a National Care Service as health secretary in 2010 under Gordon Brown.

“I would never forgive myself if I left [power] without having tried [to fix it],” the prime minister said.

He added that it was “shameful” there had been no major changes to the system despite 22 reviews into fixing the sector over the last 27 years.

Burnham also claimed the UK social care system is “as unfair as American healthcare”.

His three-point plan includes asking Baroness Louise Casey to bring forward her independent review of the social care sector by a year, meaning it will now be published in 2027.

“Ideally we want to do it even sooner but we have to be realistic,” he said. “I think we can rise to this challenge with the urgency it requires.”

Her review will look at how to integrate social care with the rest of the health system, while also being “person-centred”.

“That’s what we’re asking Louise to give us, her report on how do we deliver a national care service in England that sits alongside the National Health Service?” the prime minister added.

Burnham also called for a focus on the social care workforce.

He praised his predecessor Keir Starmer’s work on setting up a fair pay agreement, due to come into effect in 2028-29, which establishes a minimum salary for workers.

He described that deal as a “massive building block” but said his government would “look at how we turn the fair pay agreement to turn into a bigger reform”.

The PM said he would ask his ministers to consider potentially increasing the pay and working conditions of care workers in line with those working in the NHS, while strengthening the possibility of further career progression.

He claimed care workers should be the “best paid people in society, not the worst.”

The prime minister also pointed to his decision to start cross-party talks now, after inviting the Tories and the Lib Dems to discuss care reforms.

“We’re all going to have to give and take,” he said, in order to make progress to set up a new “social consensus”.

“That process starts today, it will run alongside others teams of work we are doing,” Burnham said shortly before he was due to speak to the Conservatives and Lib Dems’ Ed Davey.

“I’m not going to be deflected by the point-scoring or the screaming headlines that come out of the point-scoring,” he said, alluding to Reform UK’s outrage at not being invited to the talks.

He said the political and media cultures have shut down serious debates about progress in social care in the past.

Burnham insisted he would not be deterred by some of the headlines that will “inevitably appear” and efforts to create scare stories through what they’re seeing, either.

Asked if it’s feasible to create change without raising taxes, the prime minister insisted he would stick by Labour’s manifesto pledges.

He added: “So I think we owe it to the public before we talk about tax rises. And I know Louise [Casey] will help us with this.

“You first have to look the public in the eye and say, are we doing everything we can do from within what we’ve got? And I don’t think we can say that because we’ve taken a different approach to funding local government than we have to the NHS.”

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