Today Andy Burnham MP made a key speech outlining his approach to social care change, with three key actions.
1. To ask Baroness Casey to bring forward the report of her commission by a year, accelerating the timescale from 2028 to support the design of a National Care Service.
Colleagues from the Centre for Care and IMPACT have argued previously that adult social care change cannot wait but that there are three key questions to answer: 1) what kind of lives good care can help us to live, and how much we value this as a society; 2) how much we’re prepared to pay for these good lives; and 3) how best to meet these costs. Answering these questions now rather than in 2028 while on the cusp of the next General Election is prudent. Andy Burnham spoke about how a National Care Service needs to be different but complementary to the NHS – a mechanism to provide non-medicalised, personalised, preventive care to people via homecare services wherever possible. Resolving questions around funding is key, and whether it is possible to integrate a system that is free at the point of use with a means-tested one, as currently this division is keenly felt by many of those using health and care services. The name – a ‘National Care Service’ – may imply to many a free service, like the NHS, which is not the current reality for many people receiving support.
At the event, Baroness Casey also launched the ‘Big Conversation on Care’, which we welcome, but highlight that social care is often poorly understood by people until we need it, and we all will need it at some point in our lives. Only when we reframe social care as essential civic infrastructure — as vital to our collective wellbeing as the NHS — will we build a society where everyone can thrive. Developing a public understanding of the collective risk we all share is important to build a consensus about the way social care should be funded.
There is also a lot to learn from other countries about creating new care systems – including when change stalls. As Catherine Needham and Emily Burn have explored, Scotland moved away from creating a National Care Service, but lessons can be learnt on why the plans were abandoned.
2. To immediately focus on the social care workforce
The Fair Pay agreement will come into effect in 2028 and includes the social care workforce, and Andy Burnham noted legislation is a ‘building block’ of the National Care Service. Duncan Fisher has argued for better pay for care workers to boost recruitment and retention in the sector, and at the same time recognising the increasing complexity of care work. Andy Burnham also reflected on how skilled the care workforce is, something we welcome as our research has highlighted how often this workforce is framed as unskilled, outmoded and resistant to new learning – framings are not reflected in our research findings. Shereen Hussein and Erika Kispeter have explored the professionalisation of the care workforce, finding that alongside better pay, terms and conditions of employment, workforce autonomy is a key dimension, and crucial in delivering personalised care and support. Andy Burnham ‘s recognition of the care workforce as highly skilled is an important component in ensuring care workers have the discretion within their roles to provide support in ways which are person-centred.
Andy Burnham’s vision also includes greater parity between careers in social care and health, and also progression, where people can move from the former to the latter. It is important however to consider progression within the care sector, to move away from the idea that social care jobs are a stepping stone to work with better pay and terms and conditions in the NHS. The social care sector faces challenges with recruitment and retention, so ensuring that work in the social care sector is held in equal esteem with health is vital. The care sector currently is one where progression and experience are under-rewarded: pay differentials between care workers and care leaders are often measured in pence (73p); those who have been care workers for five years earn just 10p per hour more than those who start the job today. We hope that these challenges will be addressed by the new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body.
3. To start cross-party talks today
Acknowledging his previous attempts to bring the three main parties together around the issue of social care reform, Andy Burnham described this cross-party approach as ‘the right thing to do’ to move away from ‘political point scoring’. Again, Catherine Needham and Emily Burn’s research on the National Care Service plans in Scotland found that ‘getting the politics right is crucial – such a large-scale reform ideal needs cross-party support’. In the room for the announcement was also Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner, signaling an understanding that adult social care is an ecosystem of services, which sits alongside other systems, including housing, welfare, health and immigration.
Andy Burnham’s speech marks a welcome and necessary acceleration in adult social care reform. By moving forward the Casey Commission’s timeline, placing the workforce at its heart, and calling for cross-party consensus and a wider public conversation, the proposal tackles the structural inertia that has stalled reform for decades.
However, vision must now translate into change. As Centre for Care research consistently demonstrates, transforming social care requires more than shifting timelines and administrative integration. It demands:
- Viewing care as essential civic infrastructure: Elevating social care to the same level of societal value as the NHS, framing it as a collective investment rather than a burden, and ensuring the public understand its importance.
- Building a sustainable care career: Ensuring the upcoming Adult Social Care Negotiating Body creates meaningful career progression, where roles are paid fairly and offer autonomy within the care sector – rather than positioning social care merely as a feeder for the NHS workforce.
- Sustaining political courage: Moving past short-term electoral cycles to secure cross-party agreement that outlasts individual governments, drawing clear lessons from reform efforts both within the UK and internationally.
About the author
Kate Hamblin is Professor of Social Policy and Director of the Centre for Care.
