Wes Streeting gives major update on national care service
People should be “protected from the catastrophic costs of upfront care” that see them forced to sell their homes, the Health Secretary has said.
Wes Streeting was speaking as he announced the first steps towards creating a National Care Service, with an independent commission expected to begin in the spring.
The timeline means that proposals for the long-term funding and major reform of social care may not be delivered until 2028, which has attracted criticism from the sector and opposition parties.
Mr Streeting said he is confident long-term reforms in social care will be a “triumph of hope over experience” and vowed to “break the cycle” of failure. “We’re determined to grip the crisis in social care,” he said.
“That’s why we’ve taken immediate action in our first six months, whether on workforce, through fair pay agreements, investment, through the Budget and the disabled facilities grant, and the biggest expansion of carer’s allowance since the 1970s. And we’ll be doing more over the coming year to address the immediate crisis.
“But we’ve also got to break the cycle we’ve seen of short-termist sticking plaster politics, where parties, frankly, shoot each other in the foot and themselves in the foot, and have led social care to the crisis that we see today.”
Mr Streeting said that, for him, a national care service is “about national standards – consistent access to higher quality care for older and disabled people everywhere in the country”.
Asked whether it meant that people will not have to sell their homes to pay for their care, he told the BBC: “I would certainly like to see people protected from the catastrophic costs of upfront care that sees people forced to sell their homes and move out.”
The new independent commission looking into social care reform, led by Baroness Louise Casey, will begin in April.
It will will be split over two phases with the first, reporting to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in mid-2026, looking at the issues facing social care and recommending medium-term reforms.
The second phase is expected by 2028 and will make recommendations for the longer term.
Mr Streeting said the work will “hopefully build a national consensus” around what is a new national care service, with talks with opposition parties starting next month.
However, Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, who has made care his key focus, said the review should be "done and dusted within a year".
“We welcome cross-party talks to build a consensus to fix our broken social care system, but we can’t afford to wait three more years for a new plan,” he added.
“We’re really worried that what’s been announced looks like an excuse to kick the can down the road for another decade. That would be unforgivable for both the care of our elderly and disabled and our NHS.
“I'd like to see this review done and dusted within a year at the most. Then we can finally move on with implementing much-needed reforms after too many years of inaction."