Health secretary Wes Streeting defends delay in social care reforms

Health secretary Wes Streeting’s move ‘long overdue’ but will not substantially benefit older people for up to another decade as he is warned the sector is ‘on its last legs’

Ministers have been warned adult social care needs urgent reform after it was revealed that long-awaited proposals may not even be published for another three years.

The government has announced the first step towards creating a National Care Service, a decade and a half after it was first proposed.

But ministers have been warned the move is “long overdue” with social care sector is “on its last legs (and) without urgent action, there will be nothing left to reform”.

On Friday, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting suggested people should be “protected from the catastrophic costs of upfront care” that sees them forced to sell their homes.

Baroness Louise Casey will lead the commission that will advise on reforms (PA Wire)

He has announced an independent commission led by Baroness Louise Casey that will begin work in the spring.

The first phase, reporting next year, will recommend medium-term reforms, while the second, expected by 2028, will advise on longer-term reforms.

But Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said the move was “long overdue” and called for the review to be “done and dusted within a year” at most.

Mr Streeting was also challenged on the timeline during a tense exchange with Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway as she told him she had been left with “excessive, unpayable debt” over her late husband’s care costs.

Ms Garraway has previously talked of the £16,000 monthly cost of care for Derek Draper, a former political lobbyist who died last year at the age of 56 after a long battle with the long-term effects of Covid.

She told Mr Streeting she was “lucky” she had a well-paid job but added: “Now I’ve got excessive, unpayable debt because of it, and if I’m in that position, what are other people going to be? People can’t afford four more years of this?"

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of the King’s Fund also urged the government to “accelerate the timing”.

“The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families.”

Shadow health secretary, Edward Argar, said the Conservatives would “engage constructively” but “after 14 years in opposition it is deeply disappointing that Labour don’t have a plan for social care”.

Hugh Alderwick, director of policy at the Health Foundation, also warned the Commission “must move quickly” or run the risk of “history repeating itself”.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said this “risks becoming yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles.

“This Commission will simply confirm what we already know - how many more reports must we endure before action is taken?”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said reform was long overdue, but that even if all went well, it would be the early 2030s before older people received any substantial benefit – 30 years after Japan and Germany modernised their social care systems.

“That’s a source of profound regret and it leaves today’s older people and their families to make the best of a system widely agreed to be letting many down,” she said.

The Homecare Association, which represents employers of carers who visit people at home, said the announcements “could finally close the doom loop social care reform has been stuck in for too long”.

Jane Townson, chief executive, said: “The social care sector is on its last legs. Without urgent action, there will be nothing left to reform.

“Baroness Casey’s commission is the last opportunity this government has to deliver the transformation we desperately need.”

But Dr Townson slated new plans for care workers to be trained to perform health checks for patients in the home to relieve pressure on the NHS, saying it would worsen the situation because there was no money for training.

Councils can no longer afford all carers’ costs, according to the Homecare Association (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Ms Abrahams said the proposals were “unequivocally good news” but added: “The most sensitive issue of how to fund the social care needs of our rapidly ageing population is not set to be addressed until the second phase of the commission and this is a major concern, partly because today’s older people do not have time on their side but also because who knows what the state of the world, our politics or our economy will be by then.”

Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme 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 said: “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 government came under fire last summer after the chancellor Rachel Reeves scrapped proposals from Sir Andrew Dilnot, whose findings had been accepted by the previous government, to have a £86,000 cap on the amount an older or disabled person would have to pay towards their support at home or in care homes.

After that, those with a high level of need would also have had their care costs paid for by local councils.

Mr Streeting said on Friday that Labour had been prepared to go ahead with the social care proposals set out by the Dilnot Commission but “we found the money wasn’t there”.

He has invited opposition parties to join the reform discussions next month to “ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades”.

Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, warned of the plans “becoming yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles”.

He said: “The harm caused by government inaction is already deep, and the consequences for those who currently draw on care will be irreparable if immediate intervention is not forthcoming.

“Waiting until 2028 is not an option.”

Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, representing unpaid carers, welcomed news of the reforms, adding: “As part of the first phase, we must see quick and decisive action on any recommendations brought forward by the commission to improve social care, and government must ensure there is sufficient funding in the forthcoming spending review to deliver and to prevent further cuts in social care.

“We also need to see discussions on longer term sustainable funding for social care started as soon as practicably possible.”

The 2025 spending review is due to be published in late spring.