Saturday, January 04, 2025
Has social care been kicked into touch?
The paper says that Streeting wants all parties to “agree on the direction on social care for the long term” and added that the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Reform party ha all said they would work together on it:
An independent commission to reform adult social care in England was launched on Friday but attracted criticism for kicking much-needed reforms “into the long grass”. Its final recommendations will not be made until 2028.
The taskforce, led by the cross-bench peer Louise Casey, will be charged with developing plans for a new national care service, which was a key Labour election manifesto pledge.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Streeting faced repeated criticism for squandering the opportunity presented by a parliamentary majority to implement change quickly and instead launching another commission.
Streeting said: “I think that would be a fair criticism if we weren’t already acting on social care, if we hadn’t already done a lot in the first six months, if we weren’t announcing further action today, and if we weren’t clear about the fact that part one of the Casey commission isn’t reporting in 2028 – it’s reporting next year, and it will outline what we need to do during this parliament to lay the foundations for a national care service.”
If implemented, the idea is billed as the biggest shake-up to social care in England in decades, but its parameters will not be defined until the commission reports back.
Describing what he thought it would entail, Streeting said a national care service would be “about national standards – consistent access to higher quality care for older and disabled people everywhere in the country”.
Asked whether it meant people would not have to sell their homes to pay for their care, Streeting said: “I would certainly like to see people protected from the catastrophic costs of upfront care that see people forced to sell their homes and move out.”
This is all very well of course but since 1997, social care has been the subject of three government commissions, three independent commissions, five white papers and 14 parliamentary committee inquiries. It isn't clear how this latest commission will be any different to Dilnot, which has already been ruled out by the current government as too expensive.
There is no point having a national consensus if the government is not prepared to find the money to pay for it. Without that this is just more long grass.
