Vital Signs: Adult social care & reform

Briefing · Parliament

MPs and peers press ministers on social care reform pace as Casey commission and funding gaps dominate debate

1. 01The pace and adequacy of the Casey commission on adult social care was challenged repeatedly. Labour MP Nadia Whittome, in Topical Questions on 9 June, said it was 'disappointing that the King's Speech did not contain anything on social care' and pressed ministers to expedite reform given the full report is not expected until 2028 and implementation could stretch to 2036. Conservative MP Gregory Stafford said in Health Bill committee on 9 July that the former Secretary of State had himself conceded that stalling on social care meant 'we will not get any movement on it before another general election'.
2. 02The cost and funding of social care were central to debates on local government finance. The minister Jim McMahon told the rural upper-tier local authorities debate in the Commons on 2 September that the multi-year settlement allows for £4.6 billion of additional funding for adult social care by 2028-29, including £500 million for the first ever fair pay agreement. Liberal Democrat MPs contested this picture, with Alex Brewer arguing in a Commons debate on 2 September that independent care providers had been billed an extra £940 million this year because of employer national insurance contributions, and that the Government had voted down every attempt to exempt care and early years providers.
3. 03Sir Andrew Dilnot told the Health Bill committee on 16 June that 'we cannot really address many of the fundamental problems facing the NHS if we do not sort out social care', warning that delayed hospital discharges caused by absent social care packages prevent large numbers of elective procedures. Helen Morgan pressed him on whether the Bill should include a properly funded care service to enable safe hospital-to-community transitions, and he agreed it was 'very odd' that the underfunded, means-tested nature of social care was 'hamstringing the NHS'.
4. 04In the Lords debate on preparing for an ageing society on 4 September, Lord Kakkar noted that parliamentary committees had reached 'remarkably similar conclusions' on social care and ageing going back to 2013, and that 'thirteen years of addressing this issue in your Lordships' House has been attended by no meaningful government intervention or action'. Lord Burns observed that 'no policy proposal has received the necessary support' and that 'fundamental questions remain about service provision, our lifetime contributions, how we share costs between the state and the individual'.
5. 05Unpaid carers attracted significant attention in Health Bill committee debates on 9 July. The Liberal Democrats tabled new clauses to establish a National Respite Care Scheme and to require integrated care boards to promote carers' health and wellbeing. Minister Karin Smyth resisted both, arguing that the Care Act 2014 already requires local authorities to carry out carers' assessments and meet eligible needs, and that a new statutory scheme would be unnecessary. Labour MP Sojan Joseph, chair of the APPG on adult social care, said in the same session that while supporting carers was vital, new statutory duties on the NHS risked creating 'more administrative burden'.