Burnham invites Tories and Lib Dems to social care talks

Andy Burnham has invited the leaders of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats for talks on reforming social care in England.The prime minister wants to meet Kemi Badenoch and Sir Ed Davey on Wednesday, when he is expected to give a speech saying that finding cross-party common ground will be key to the reform.Liberal Dem leader Sir Ed said he would attend remotely but Tory leader Badenoch cannot be there and is sending shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew instead. A Conservative source criticised the short notice invitation, suggesting: "It's almost like it's only being done for show."Burnham did not invite the leaders of Reform UK or the Green Party of England and Wales.Last week the prime minister told the BBC the NHS would "collapse" if social care was not reformed, saying he would not want to leave office without bringing in "substantial change" to the system.The prime minister said he would put "whatever political capital" he had "into fixing broken social care" but did not put a timeline on changes.Burnham first proposed a universal system of social care in England in 2009 when he was health secretary under former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.He suggested a compulsory levy to fund the system and Brown's government also floated the idea of allowing people to defer the payment until after they died, leading to the Tories branding it a "death tax".In his speech on Wednesday, Burnham is not expected to set out detailed plans for a new system of social care in England.But the BBC has been told he will announce he is speeding up the Casey Commission, an independent review led by Baroness Louise Casey which will draw up recommendations to deliver a National Care Service.At the speech, he will be joined by Health Secretary Yvette Cooper. Baroness Casey herself will also be there to launch a consultation that will give the public a chance to share their views on social care.Speaking ahead of his speech, Burnham said it was "time to draw a line under people playing politics" with social care."Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics: problem-solving, not point-scoring," he said. "Nowhere is that more urgent than social care. For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road because they've seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too complicated."Politicians might have different views but I'm serious about fixing this issue and to do that, we have to find common ground and listen to others to find a way forward."Last week Badenoch wrote to the prime minister saying he should rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to fund social care reform.A Conservative spokesman said Andrew would attend in Badenoch's place and was ready to work with Labour on measures that improved social care - provided they were not reliant on tax rises and borrowing."Social care is vital to protecting the most vulnerable in our society," he said. "Any changes must be backed by a clear, credible and fully costed plan that delivers better care for the public and value for taxpayers."Andy Burnham and Labour cannot rely on vague promises of reform without a clear plan for implementation and detail on what will happen when."Sir Ed said on X that he would attend the meeting by Zoom as he was with his family in France and had a disabled son who needed "24/7 care"."I'm hopeful this call may prove to be the first step towards fixing our broken care service," he added. He has previously said he was ready to do "whatever I can to find a real and lasting consensus on social care" but pointed out there had already been 22 failed attempts at reforming social care since 1997. "To see the 23rd effort work, we need to do things differently," he said."My party has been pushing for cross-party talks on care for years, because it is the only way to build a solution that actually works. "For carers and for our country, nothing matters more, so I look forward to meeting the prime minister tomorrow to begin these talks."He added his priorities were to put family carers at the heart of any proposals, and ensure no-one lost their home or life savings on catastrophic care costs.Complaining of the snub, Reform leader Nigel Farage said far from leaving politics aside, Burnham had "chosen to ignore the party that led over 300 national opinion polls and represents thousands of councillors and millions of Britons across the country".He accused the prime minister of "conspiring behind closed doors with the failed political establishment".Green leader Zack Polanski, asked on Newsnight whether he should have been invited, said: "That's a case for the prime minister. Actually, I think it's positive he's inviting opposition leaders at all."I would like to be there, of course I would, I'd encourage the prime minister to extend that invitation… The point here, though, is not politicians' personal egos, the point is adult social care is a ticking time bomb."Adult social care provides state support to help people live more independently, including assistance at home.Unlike the NHS, social care is not free at the point of use. In England and Northern Ireland, people with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with care costs from their council.In Wales and Scotland, different rules apply in terms of eligibility.Richard Hardy has lived at Broadway Lodge Residential Home in York for two and a half years.Like many, he and his wife Diane say cost was a factor in choosing it.But at £1,100 a week they're worried about how long their savings will last."I've done a lot of money juggling over the last few months," said Diane.Many other homes were more expensive and Richard is happy there, but Diane does not want to reach the point where she has to sell the family home where she lives to fund his care."There's always that sort of little doubt, but I have faith in the fact that you know this is meant to be," she said.The care home's owner Faizal Mohamudbaccus says they would never ask anyone to leave because of a lack of funding, but local authorities need to be quicker to step in when care home residents run out of money."The system for an elderly person coming into a care home is broken and there's not enough social workers, there's not enough organisation or planning and I think a more robust system would make it easier for the family," he said.