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The UK government has rejected criticism that it is delaying tackling the crisis in social care after it said a review of one of the country’s most intractable political problems would not be completed until 2028.
The first phase of the review, which will be led by Baroness Louise Casey, an experienced Whitehall problem-solver, will report back in mid-2026. It will identify the critical issues facing social care for adults and will make recommendations for mid-term reforms.
But the second phase, which will provide longer-term recommendations to address Britain’s aging population, will not be reported until 2028 – the year before the next general election.
Asked on Friday whether he was putting the problem in the long grass, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, told the BBC: “I think it would be a fair criticism if we hadn’t already acted on social care, if we hadn’t we would have already done a lot in the first six months.”
He added that “the first part of the Casey commission is not reporting in 2028 – it is reporting next year”.
But Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King’s Fund, a health and social care think tank, urged ministers to speed up the commission’s timing, saying it was “too long to wait” for people who needed care and families theirs.
Natasha Curry, deputy director of policy at research group the Nuffield Trust, said there needed to be more urgency from ministers given the “rising costs” facing the care sector – including higher National Insurance payments.
“The ambition to implement comprehensive reform in the medium and long term as part of a phased plan is understandable, but more urgent support for social care needs to come,” she added.
Baroness Casey’s appointment is an attempt to break the political deadlock after decades of wrangling over social care, which has weighed heavily on the overburdened NHS.
Despite the millions of people affected, the issue was barely mentioned in last year’s general election.
A government-commissioned study published by Lord Ara Darzi last year described the crisis facing social care delivery as “appalling”. The peer said the lack of funding had had “profound human costs and economic consequences” for older people and their families.
Sir Tony Blair set up a royal commission into aged care at the start of the last Labor government in 1997, but ended up discarding its recommendations for free personal care on grounds of cost.
Since then, various government initiatives have been proposed to fund the social care system, only to face public backlash.
Successive governments have pushed for a cap on the living costs that each individual must contribute to their personal care in England.
The cap – set at £86,000 by the last Tory government – was due to come into effect this October, but after chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed what ministers described as a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances, the plans were postponed again indefinitely. .
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said Casey’s review could finally break the “blockade” over social care funding.
“We say ‘potentially’ because while we have no doubt that Baroness Casey will do an excellent job, the real question is whether the government will act decisively on her conclusions,” she said.
Woolnough at The King’s Fund said the first phase of Casey’s review should look at greater use of data and technology in the sector, better integration with the NHS and making social care for adults a more attractive career.
Streeting also announced an £86m increase in the Disabled Facilities Grant for this financial year, taking the annual total to £711m, to allow more disabled and older people to make improvements in their homes.
