The social care system in England – which is delivered mainly by independent providers rather than the NHS – is widely perceived as underfunded and unfair.
Public funding is means tested and it is estimated, external that there are two million older people in England now living with some unmet need for social care.
And around 10% of people aged 65 and over face lifetime care costs above £100,000 for their care.
Burnham has himself described it as a “broken” system., external
And , externalhe made an attempt to reform it, external when he was health secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, though his plan was abandoned after Labour lost the 2010 election.
A government-commissioned report by the economist Andrew Dilnot in 2011, external proposed a state-funded cap on lifetime care costs, of around £35,000, meaning no one would be required to pay more than that to fund their own care.
The principle of a state-funded cap was accepted by Conservative ministers, but the Dilnot system was never implemented.
Former Prime Minister Theresa May put a separate plan for a new system of social care support into the 2017 Tory manifesto, which proposed including the value of a person’s home in the means test for care received in an individual’s home – and did not initially mention a cap on lifetime contributions.
This proved controversial because homeowners could have been required to contribute more towards their care costs, external based on the value of their property.
But the former PM was forced to reverse course within days and the proposal was blamed for the loss of the Tory majority in that election.
Labour’s 2024 manifesto, external pledged a new “national care service”.
But Starmer kicked the reform can down the road when he became PM and commissioned Baroness Casey to produce a review on options for reform, external, instructing her to deliver her final report by 2028.
Burnham has suggested he will ask Baroness Casey to report back sooner – by the end of 2026 – and could choose to implement her recommendations.
But any reform is likely to cost money, likely billions of pounds a year.
In the past, Burnham has suggested changing inheritance tax to pay for social care reform, external, floating the idea of a 10% levy on all estates.
However, polling frequently suggests inheritance tax is widely regarded as the least fair tax, external. It should be said more recently he has said he is open to getting rid of inheritance tax completely, external and instead moving to tax “the wealthy properly while they are alive”.
