Wes Streeting today announced a historic independent commission to reform adult social care. However plans aren’t expected to come into force for another three years.
The new taskforce is set to be led by baroness Louise Casey and will be charged with developing plans for a new national care service – a Labour election manifesto pledge.
Set to begin work in April, the commission has been announced after ministers warned older people could be isolated from vital help as the NHS is currently facing record-breaking wait times and major staff shortages amid a winter illness crisis.
To give context, a hospital in Colchester has recently made the decision to restrict hospital visits as the establishment is currently facing a severe spike in flu cases.
Although work on the commission is due to commence in just three months, it will be split into two phases, the first of which will report by mid 2026 and identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements.
However, phase two, which will examine how to organise care services and fund them for the future, will not report until 2028 – a year before when the next election must be held.
‘It will take time, but Casey’s work will finally grasp this nettle and set our country on the path to building a national care service that meets the urgent need of our generation, guarantees quality care to all who need it, and lasts long into the future, no matter which government is in power,’ Wes Streeting said to The Guardian. ‘By 2050, there will be four million more people over the age of 65 in England than there are now. If we do nothing, real social care costs are expected to nearly double by 2038 compared to 2018 numbers.’
Despite Steeting’s optimism, experts have expressed their concerns about the timeframe required to launch the commission in full and remain wary that this could be another empty promise proposed by central government.
Hugh Alderwick, director of policy at The Health Foundation, said: ‘The adult social care system in England desperately needs reform after decades of political neglect and underfunding. So the government’s promise of a plan for social care is welcome.
‘But we have been here before. The past three decades have seen a long line of reports and reviews making recommendations for social care reform, including from government commissions like the one announced today. The result has been delays and broken promises.
‘This new commission must move quickly and build on previous policy proposals. Today’s announcement suggests it may be three years before we see recommendations for longer term reform, including to the broken funding system for social care. This risks history repeating itself, with reforms not being implemented and people continuing to suffer.’
As well as launching the commission, ministers also today revealed millions of pounds in funding for elderly and disabled people to make home improvements and stay out of hospital will be made available as part of a wider package of support for the sector.
In addition to helping elderly people, the new care plan also benefits care workers. Staff will be offered better career pathways and trained to perform further duties such as blood pressure checks.
What’s more, a digital platform for medical information to be shared between the NHS and carers will also be established.
Councillor Louise Gittings, chair of the Local Government Association, remarked: ‘The announcement of an independent review of adult social care marks a potentially important step in addressing the significant challenges facing the sector. New funding for adult social care is positive, we are pleased to see that more people will be supported in their homes through more investment in the Disabled Facilities Grant.
‘For this process to succeed, the review must deliver bold and actionable recommendations, backed by a firm commitment to provide the substantial funding needed to turn those recommendations into reality.’
Echoing a similar tone, Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, added: ‘Far reaching reform and refinancing of social care is long overdue, so today’s announcement is unequivocally good news – it could potentially finally break the logjam that has stood in the way for many years. We say ‘potentially’ because while we’ve no doubt Baroness Casey will do an excellent job, the real question is whether the Government will act decisively on her conclusions. In this respect history is discouraging, but it’s imperative that the current administration breaks the mould and puts the commission’s recommendations fully into practice.’
‘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,’ she continued. ‘The risk is that future events prevent the progress we desperately need to see and the more long drawn out the commission is, the greater the risk will be.’
‘Even if all goes well the reality is that it will be the early 2030s before older people and their families get substantial benefit from a transformed approach to social care – fully thirty 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 that is widely agreed to be letting many down,’ Caroline said.
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