Burnham calls for cross-party talks on social care reform

Andy Burnham will seek cross-party talks on social care reform as he faces calls to legislate for a national care service before the next election.

The new Prime Minister has previously pledged to expend “whatever political capital I have” on fixing England’s social care system, warning the NHS “will collapse” otherwise.

Speaking to reporters on a visit to Portsmouth on Monday, Mr Burnham said other party leaders had already approached him saying they were prepared to engage in talks on social care reform.

He said: “It’s one thing to say that and another to actually then mean it and try and find common ground. But let’s try on this issue.

“No party is in a position where they’ve got the high ground – we’ve all failed on this issue over decades and the pressure now on the National Health Service as a result of that failure is huge.”

Mr Burnham added: “I would like to see if we could arrange talks, cross-party talks, to build that spirit of collaboration from the start.”

The Prime Minister is expected to set out his thinking on social care reform in more detail later in the week, while acknowledging that change would “take time”.

But he has been urged by experts to move quickly and introduce a new system before the next election, expected in 2029.

Sarah Woolnough, chief executive of The King’s Fund health charity, told the Press Association the Prime Minister must act decisively.

She said: “I think if he’s really serious then he could, with a large majority, introduce a new system before the end of the Parliament, and he could bring forward some measures.”

While introducing a fundamental NHS principle-style universal system for adult social care would need a staged approach to ensure the funding and the staffing to make it happen in the longer term, she suggested there are steps Mr Burnham can take to make sure the groundwork is put in place.

She told PA: “What I mean by getting the mechanism in place is you could pass legislation to say: ‘This is what a national care service will look like, these are the principles,’ and you could make some moves.

“You could allocate some money. You could set up an agency or a body if you need to, you could issue instructions to local authorities to behave in a certain way.

“So you could do quite a lot of the groundwork to say: ‘This is what it is, this is how it will run out over the coming years.’”

Speaking in Portsmouth, Mr Burnham indicated there were “things that can be done in the short term” as part of “building towards a longer term solution”, but did not elaborate on what that would involve.

While health organisations have welcomed Mr Burnham’s “willingness to confront the issue” and apparent “clear determination”, they have cautioned against framing the argument as social care needing to be fixed to save the NHS.

Nuffield Trust think tank deputy director of policy Natasha Curry said: “There is a moral imperative to ensure older and disabled people can live independently with dignity, and a compelling economic case too.

“Millions of people have unmet care needs, while unpaid carers and disabled adults are too often prevented from working, participating in their communities and planning for their futures because the support they need simply isn’t there.”

The Health Foundation think tank has estimated that if the state covered the costs of everyone currently receiving adult social care services in England, an NHS-style social care system would cost £18.5 billion extra a year by 2035. This is on top of current costs which amounted to £28.7 billion in the year 2024/25.

This is described as a “broad estimate” and assumes everyone who currently funds their own care would be eligible for publicly funded care but does not include likely additional costs of people with unmet care needs, who come forward because of the policy change.

Unlike NHS care, social care is not free at the point of use, and high costs sometimes mean people are forced to sell their homes to pay for what they need.

People with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with the cost of care from their local council.

Reform of the social care system is unfinished business for Mr Burnham, who set out plans for change while he was health secretary in Gordon Brown’s administration.

His 2010 plans to overhaul social care for the elderly with the creation of a national care service for England were scuppered by the Conservatives, who claimed Labour would levy a “death tax” to pay for it.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Mr Burnham to challenge him to rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to pay for social care reform.

Baroness Louise Casey is leading a review into the adult social care system and has previously confirmed she will launch what she has described as a “challenging” conversation with the country – asking who should get social care, what people should pay, and what role the state should play to inform the major review.

Mr Burnham’s call for cross-party talks on social care came as Labour appeared to experience a polling bounce following his takeover from Sir Keir Starmer.

A new poll from More In Common saw Labour gain four points to reach 28%, overtaking Reform UK and marking the first time Labour had led in one of the pollster’s surveys since March 2025.

Asked about the poll, Mr Burnham said he would not get “carried away” but was pleased to have “connected with people” in his first week in office.

Meanwhile, YouGov’s latest poll has Labour and Reform neck and neck on 22% each, the first time that Labour has not been behind Reform since April 2025.

Published: 27/07/2026 by Radio NewsHub