An overhaul of the country’s “broken” social care system is set to be introduced two years earlier than expected under changes planned by incoming prime minister Andy Burnham.
The new leader of the Labour Party is expected to ask the Casey Commission on social care to fast-track reforms, due in 2028, to the end of this year – as one of his first acts in office.
On Thursday, he said he was willing to “expend quite a lot of political capital” on care for the elderly and tackle one of the thorniest issues facing society and Westminster.
And in his acceptance speech as Labour leader on Friday, Burnham – whose own father has Alzheimer’s – placed social care at the centre of his plans to change Britain.
He said: “Let’s take a problem-solving rather than a point-scoring approach. Let’s have the courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected – like social care – and have the conviction to go out there together and argue for our plans.”
Burnham has long argued for a National Care Service to run alongside the NHS, where social care would be free at the point of use. He has also proposed replacing inheritance tax with a “national care levy” to fund people’s needs in later life.
The Health Foundation estimates that an NHS-style social care system would cost £18.7bn extra a year by 2035.
While Burnham has not revealed his funding plans for social care in this Labour leadership campaign, he previously said he would personally “look at all of the kind of implications of that in relation to inheritance tax and care charges and everything. I wouldn’t flinch from it”.
Launching his campaign for the Makerfield by-election in May, he had said he would “look at a care levy”.
Whitehall fixer Dame Louise Casey began her commission on reforming social care in England in April last year, and was told by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government to produce a final report by 2028. However, it is understood that Burnham wants Casey to move more quickly and come up with recommendations – including how social care should be paid for – by the end of this year.
This means a new system, including possible tax rises or new charges to fund it, could be in place during this Parliament rather than the next, as was expected under the existing timetable.
Last month, Casey told a committee of MPs that she would be willing to accelerate her commission’s work if the new prime minister asked her to.
And care minister Stephen Kinnock told The i Paper that Casey saw the 2028 date “as a deadline, not a target”. He added: “It’ll be up to Andy Burnham as the incoming prime minister to work closely with Baroness Casey and the Treasury and other key players to ensure that we bring the work forward as rapidly as we can.”
Battle over funding
However, the fast-tracked timetable will raise questions over how the new system will be paid for – one of the key questions the commission has been investigating.
Burnham said in 2023 that he was in favour of a new universal “national care levy”. This could be a 10 per cent flat rate applied to all estates upon death, replacing the current rate of 40 per cent inheritance tax which is introduced on homes worth over a certain threshold.
Experts have suggested that alterative ways of funding a boost to care could be through a wealth tax and higher taxes – but have cautioned against making cuts to public services.
Launching his Makerfield campaign, Burnham had said the social care system was “broken”, adding: “It’s a reverse of the NHS principle, social care, that the most unfortunate can just like lose everything, and it’s an awful thing. I know there’s a great resentment about inheritance tax, so actually just, you know, take that away, perhaps, and look at a care levy.
“It’s not about asking people to pay more, it’s just people paying in the most unfair way possible at this moment in time; and I think there’s a much better way of doing it, and people just have peace of mind while they’re alive, because they get the care that they need, and then it will be dealt with in a much better way.”
Speaking on Friday, however, after he became Labour leader, he said that “in the end”, reform of the social care system will “require something difficult”.
Burnham also raised the issue of social care funding when he addressed MPs at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday.
Asked by Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, about the use of private equity in the care sector, Burnham said that being “distinctively Labour” meant rebuilding the public realm and that profit did not sit well with the care of vulnerable elderly people.
Under the existing system, state-funded care is means-tested and people are often forced to sell their homes to cover costs.
A universal levy would apply to everyone, meaning families could plan ahead with their budgets. It would also be ring-fenced, meaning revenues raised from the levy would go directly into funding the National Care Service.
Lucinda Allen, senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation, said: “While it requires significant investment, right now, only the very poorest people with the highest needs receive any public funding towards their care and support. Others go without vital care they need, spend their savings, sell their homes, or turn to friends and family.
“Policymakers have a range of options for raising additional revenue for social care. Cuts to other public services should be avoided. General taxation, taxing wealth, taxing older people who are more likely to need care are all areas that politicians have considered before.”
‘Bonkers’ timeline set to be brought forward
The Casey Commission was announced by Wes Streeting in early 2025 when he was health secretar. It was originally intended that Casey would produce interim findings this year and a final report in 2028.
When he resigned from the Cabinet in May, Streeting made clear he had wanted the commission to go faster but had been blocked by the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves. He told The Guardian: “I think the timetable is bonkers, to be honest. And this was a fight I lost with No10 and the Treasury. So I’d bring that commission forward.”
Kinnock said the Government was already improving social care, including the introduction of Fair Pay Agreements for social care workers, who will get a new national negotiating body and NHS-style annual pay rises – as The i Paper revealed.
There will also be £4.6bn of additional funding for local authorities, and an increase in the disabled facilities grant to £723m.
Giving evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee last month, Casey said her interim report this year would propose some “quite big changes” to the social care system.
Asked if she would be able to accelerate her commission’s work if asked to by Burnham, Casey replied: “Yes.”
She added: “Ministers have always been incredibly supportive of the fact that if we can bring the overall piece of work in earlier, we should.”
Allen, of the Health Foundation, said: “The Government’s 2028 deadline has always been a concern, as it risks the commission’s recommendations landing dangerously close to the next general election. As Andy Burnham well knows, the white heat of election campaigns has burnt previous plans for social care reform.”
Hence then, the article about burnham will fast track fixing the care crisis and higher taxes could pay for it was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Burnham will fast-track fixing the care crisis – and higher taxes could pay for it )
Also on site :
- 10 Costco Brands That Are Secretly Made By Major Brands
- 1972 Classic, Ranked the No. 1 Greatest ‘Summer Rock Song of All Time,’ Remains a Timeless Anthem 54 Years Later
- IRGC claims strikes on US drone depot and AI hub in Bahrain