Andy Burnham has pledged to take a plan for free social care to the next election, signalling that Labour could seek billions of pounds in additional tax revenue to create an NHS-style national care service.
Speaking as the Labour conference opened in Liverpool, the Prime Minister said he was prepared to “grasp the nettle” and take unpopular decisions to resolve a problem successive governments had failed to address.
Experts have estimated that making social care free at the point of use could cost £18 billion a year, equivalent to a 2p increase in the basic rate of income tax. Mr Burnham said the final bill would be lower, but declined to provide a figure.
He said a 10 per cent tax on inheritances remained “on the table”, describing his preferred approach as one in which “everyone contributes, everyone is covered”.
Government sources have indicated that scrapping the pensions triple lock could be considered as part of a package to fund the reforms.
Darren Jones, a former Labour Cabinet minister, said the cost could not be met through taxation alone and suggested that changes to the triple lock might help finance social care.
“The triple lock is very expensive and of benefit to older people,” Mr Jones said. “If you are reallocating money to help older people in the social care system, maybe there is some reform that can be done there.”
Mr Burnham said the final funding model would depend on the outcome of Louise Casey’s review of social care. He said, however, that he was willing to “rip the plaster off” and make difficult choices.
The Prime Minister said the proposal would feature in Labour’s next manifesto. His comments are likely to renew speculation about the timing of the next general election, after he had said on Friday that he wanted to “knock dead” talk of a snap poll.
Mr Burnham said his determination to reform social care had been strengthened by the recent death of his father, Roy, who had been living in a care home with Alzheimer’s.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the current system was unfair because families could be financially ruined as well as facing the consequences of illness.
Cross-party discussions on social care have already taken place, but Reform UK and the Conservatives said they would not support tax rises to fund a new system.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the reforms should instead be paid for through reductions in welfare spending and cuts elsewhere in government. He described tax rises as a “red line”.
Reform’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick accused Mr Burnham of being “too weak to cut the sky-high benefits bill, so he’s coming for your home instead”.
