PM won’t rule out tax rises as Casey review is accelerated
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has proposed extending free adult social care to everyone in England on an NHS-style footing, telling the BBC that under his plan “everyone contributes, everyone is covered.” In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Burnham said he would set out his “vision” on Tuesday and acknowledged that funding the reform may be “difficult or unpopular.”
Burnham framed the policy around the NHS model. “I am talking about a system that works on NHS principles because that is the only way you can make it work,” he said, adding: “There is free personal care elsewhere in the UK. I don’t think it’s right that people in England don’t get the same and it’s not something we’re going to rush.” Reforming social care has been a flagship policy for Burnham, who has spoken about the experience of his father Roy, who had Alzheimer’s and died earlier this month.
The prime minister did not put a figure on the cost of the reform. When the BBC put to him an estimate that a universal, free-at-point-of-use system could cost taxpayers £18bn a year, Burnham replied “It’s not that high” without offering an alternative. He said people already faced a “huge cost” and described the current English system as “as unfair as American healthcare, where the most vulnerable in society can lose everything, they can be wiped out.”
Pressed on how the system would be paid for, Burnham said: “It will be a system of that kind – so everyone contributes, everyone is covered but not precisely necessarily in the same way that we currently pay for the NHS.” The reforms would have to be “done carefully, without putting extra strain on the public purse,” he said, and added that “nothing is off the table at this moment in time” regarding funding. He did not rule out tax rises.
The proposal drew immediate opposition from the Conservative front bench. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the prime minister was suggesting Labour wanted “more tax rises” to pay for the reforms, and said the Conservatives would not support this. Labour’s 2024 manifesto pledged not to increase national insurance, income tax or VAT. Burnham acknowledged that tension, telling the BBC: “I’m going to say that we stick to the manifesto because I have to keep people’s trust, and there are commitments in the manifesto that would make it hard to do in this Parliament.”
Whitehall troubleshooter Baroness Casey, who was appointed by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to conduct a review of social care with a 2028 delivery date, has been asked by Burnham to bring forward her recommendations to next summer. She will advise on “the best way of doing it,” Burnham said, and her proposals will be subject to cross-party talks aimed at building consensus.
Burnham cast the reform as a long-term project that would be tested at the ballot box. “I don’t think you can reform this system without consensus,” he said. “I will develop a very clear plan and I will put that plan to the public at a general election and that will be where the plan gets tested and people will then be able to decide.”
Adult social care in England currently provides state support to help people live more independently, including assistance at home, but is not free at the point of use. Adults in England and Northern Ireland with savings above £23,250 are not entitled to council help with care costs. Scotland already provides personal care — assistance with tasks including eating and bathing — free to all adults assessed as needing it. Wales operates under separate eligibility rules.