Labour puts universal social care proposal to voters at next election
Andy Burnham says a future service in England would be free at the point of use, but its funding and cost remain unsettled.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham says Labour will include a proposal for universal social care in England in its next general election manifesto. The service would be free at the point of use, with everyone contributing and everyone covered.
Burnham ruled out introducing reforms before the next election, currently scheduled for 2029. He said putting the proposal to voters would give them the chance to endorse it.
The funding model has not been decided. Burnham said Baroness Casey’s review would advise on how the service could be paid for, and promised more detail in a speech on Tuesday. He said it would be a system “of that kind” as the NHS, but not necessarily funded in precisely the same way.
Burnham said the annual cost would be below the £18bn figure that had been suggested, but gave no estimate of his own. He said the public finance challenge was real and that the proposals would need to be developed carefully.
The proposal echoes Burnham’s 2009 plan for a national care service, when he was health secretary. That plan was abandoned after Labour lost the 2010 election.
