‘It’s a cop out’ – furious campaigners blast Labour’s social care plan

Labour’s social care plan that will take years to deliver reforms has been branded a “cop-out” by furious campaigners.

An independent commission led by Baroness Casey of Blackstock is not due to make long-term recommendations until 2028, leaving thousands of families struggling under a broken system.

Dennis Reed, director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said the announcement amounted to a “recipe for delay”.

He told the Express: “I don’t think anybody should be welcoming it. I think it’s a cop-out really. It’s a way to sort of formalise the fact that Labour don’t want to do anything during this parliament to resolve the social care crisis.”

Mr Reed said the timeline would mean legislation to reform adult social care is unlikely to pass before the next general election, and there is a risk that “yet again social care will have fallen by the wayside”.

He added: “I don’t think an independent commission is necessary at all because we’ve had two dozen such attempts at resolving the crisis over the last 20 years or so. This is a time for political decisions.

“We’ve got all the information from all those previous commissions and what the Government needs to do is to say: ‘This is our National Care Service plan, this is what we intend the service to do, these are the principles that we’d like to see.’

“The crisis is here and now. There are huge waiting lists for social care. The NHS hospital service is blocked up by patients not being able to be discharged to their own homes because there isn’t social care available.

“Local authorities are almost, in many cases, going bankrupt because they haven’t got enough funding for adult social social care.

“And yet apparently we’ve got all the time in the world to go through all the same options again that have been discussed over the last the last 20 years or so.”

The commission is expected to begin in April and publish a first report with initial recommendations in mid-2026. Long-term recommendations to transform care are then due by 2028.

Defending the plan, Health Secretary Wes Streeting insisted Labour was “determined to grip the crisis in social care”.

He said: “That’s why we’ve taken immediate action in our first six months, whether on workforce, through fair pay agreements, investment, through the Budget and the disabled facilities grant, and the biggest expansion of carer’s allowance since the 1970s. And we’ll be doing more over the coming year to address the immediate crisis.

“But we’ve also got to break the cycle we’ve seen of short-termist sticking plaster politics, where parties, frankly, shoot each other in the foot and themselves in the foot, and have led social care to the crisis that we see today.”

Mr Streeting, who visited Burnrigg Court Residential Care Home in Carlisle on Friday, said the commission would “build a national consensus” around what the National Care Service should look like.

He added: “That means that every government delivers for social care in the way that, frankly, successive governments have failed in the past.

“We’re trying to break that cycle of failure and build a new national consensus around social care, with cross-party talks starting next month. I think that is the right approach. It’s the grown-up approach.”

The Health Secretary also faced a grilling from Kate Garraway during an appearance on Good Morning Britain.

The broadcaster opened up about the “excessive, unplayable debt” she faced for her late husband Derek Draper’s care during a four-year battle with Covid.

Speaking on the anniversary of his death on Friday, she described appeals for funding that “kept being pushed back and pushed back”.

Ms Garraway added: “If I’m in that position what else are people going to be? People can’t afford four more years of this.”

Shadow health secretary Ed Argar told the Express the Tories would “engage constructively to deliver much-needed long-term social care reform”.

But he added: “After 14 years in opposition, and promises made in the run up to the election, thousands of Britons will be asking why Labour have broken their promise, and don’t have a plan for social care.

“After scrapping our plans for reform last year, and now not delivering their long-term plan until 2028, Labour need to act swiftly, and get on with the cross-party discussions, to rebuild the consensus they broke.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “We welcome cross-party talks to build a consensus to fix our broken social care system, but we can’t afford to wait three more years for a new plan.

“We’re really worried that what’s been announced looks like an excuse to kick the can down the road for another decade. That would be unforgivable for both the care of our elderly and disabled and our NHS.

“I’d like to see this review done and dusted within a year at the most. Then we can finally move on with implementing much-needed reforms after too many years of inaction.”

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund think tank, welcomed the commission but urged the Government to “get on with the things you can do now”.

She said: “We have got a social care system that doesn’t work for millions of people. The human cost is high. Many people are going without care of facing very severe, catastrophic costs to pay for care or family are having to step in.

“This is about human dignity, it’s about helping people live well. We can’t wait many years and the danger is if you don’t report until 2028, you are kicking it into the long grass.”

Ms Woolnough also pointed to 12 previous green papers and countless white papers, consultations and commissions on social care.

She added: “Do we really need to take quite this long to come up with a vision for a sustainable, fair, better social care system?”

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said the review “risks becoming yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles”.

He added: “This commission will simply confirm what we already know – how many more reports must we endure before action is taken?

“The harm caused by the Government’s inaction is already deep, and the consequences for those who currently draw on care will be irreparable if immediate intervention is not forthcoming.

“Waiting until 2028 is not an option. The people in care today cannot afford to wait any longer – their lives depend on action now.”

Martin Jones, chief executive of home care provider Home Instead, said: “Labour’s inaction will not only hurt millions of vulnerable people and their families – it will also have significant political repercussions.

“Older voters, who care deeply about this issue, will remember this failure to act.

“Politicians of all parties must recognise that addressing the social care crisis isn’t just a moral imperative – it’s also a political necessity.”