Burnham Pledges Social Care Reform in First Week as PM
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- Andy Burnham will make a social care speech next week as part of what No 10 describes as an effort to show he is 'hitting the ground running' as prime minister.
- Downing Street named social care, youth unemployment, and devolution as 'some of the most difficult issues facing the country that have been ignored for too long,' vowing Burnham will 'run towards problems that have been neglected.'
- Burnham first proposed a universal social care system in England in 2009 as health secretary under Gordon Brown, and has vowed to spend political capital on the issue now as PM.
- Unlike the NHS, social care is not free at the point of use in England, and people with savings above £23,250 are not entitled to council help with care costs.
- Boris Johnson pledged in his first 2019 PM speech to 'fix the crisis in social care once and for all,' while Keir Starmer scrapped Labour's planned £86,000 lifetime cap on personal care costs in July 2024.
- Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called for 'cross-party consensus' on social care reform, and Burnham replied on X: 'Let's work together to find some common ground.'
- Conservative chairman Kevin Hollinrake immediately challenged Burnham on funding: 'Where's the money coming from, Andy? We're all dying to know.'
Why it matters: The £23,250 savings threshold means most English households pay for care out of pocket, and both Boris Johnson (2019) and Keir Starmer — who scrapped an £86,000 cap in July 2024 — have failed to deliver reform. Burnham's pledge lands with skeptical questions from the Conservatives on funding and a Lib Dem invitation to cooperate cross-party.
