PRIME MINISTER Andy Burnham will on Wednesday set out the first steps of his plan to reform the adult social care system, saying he is prepared to work with other political parties to improve funding for a service that can leave families facing costs of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Burnham, who became prime minister last week, has seen Labour's poll ratings rise after announcing measures aimed at reducing the cost of living.
His plans to reform adult social care are expected to bring renewed focus to an issue that successive governments have struggled to address.
Burnham will also have to explain how any changes will be funded while remaining within his fiscal rules.
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Previous attempts to reform adult social care have failed, with proposals criticised by opposition parties as a "dementia tax" or "death tax", leaving the system underfunded.
Care homes are run by a range of providers, from private equity-owned chains to smaller family-owned businesses and charities.
Depending on the level of medical need and location, residents pay around £1,400 a week privately, while local authorities are charged around £1,000 for similar care. How much the resident pays, and how much the state contributes, is determined by their level of wealth.
Burnham has said that unless the care sector is reformed, the state-run National Health Service could collapse because of how many people who could be cared for elsewhere end up in hospitals.
"For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road because they've seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated," Burnham said in a statement ahead of a speech he was due to give on Wednesday.
"We have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward."
Burnham first tried to reform social care funding when he was health secretary under Gordon Brown's premiership but faced political difficulties and ran out of time before Labour's election loss in 2010.
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The Times newspaper said on Wednesday he wanted to stop private companies, especially those financed by private equity, from making large profits from social care. Private equity firms owned about one in eight for-profit care home beds in 2022.
Burnham's office said he had invited the leaders of the opposition Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to discuss the issue.
Unlike the NHS, social care in Britain is not free for most people. Access to state-funded social care for older people in England is means-tested and generally requires a high level of need.
Britain's Institute for Fiscal Studies said in 2024 that, due to tighter eligibility criteria, the number of older people receiving state-funded social care in England had fallen by 10 per cent over the past decade, despite an ageing population.
Around one in seven older people were likely to incur lifetime care costs of more than £100,000, it added.
The King's Fund, a health think-tank, said English local authorities spent £34.5 billion on social care for disabled adults and older people in the 2024/25 financial year, up about 8 per cent from the year before and split roughly evenly between working-age adults and older people.
(With inputs from agencies)
