Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has left the door ajar to a 10% tax on all inheritances to raise billions of pounds to address the UK's adult social care crisis. Mr McFadden did not deny that the government was considering the move, which reportedly would raise £18 billion.
Burnham to Discuss Social Care Reform
Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who has long pledged to improve the nation's social care system, is set to speak about social care tomorrow. Asked on Sky News if the government was considering this tax, Mr McFadden said: "Well, Andy Burnham is going to be talking about social care tomorrow. This is a subject that's been close to his heart for many years. There have been many attempts to tackle this over the years, and they haven't really come to anything. He is determined, as he said, to put political capital into this, to put political energy into this. So we have to wait to see what he says in his speech tomorrow."
Political Momentum and Cross-Party Talks
Mr Burnham has hit the ground running since entering No10 last week with a wave of announcements that has seen Labour overtake Nigel Farage's Reform UK in a poll to go into first place. The former Health Secretary has said he 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 former Mayor of Greater Manchester has previously pledged to expend "whatever political capital I have" on fixing England's social care system, warning the NHS "will collapse" otherwise.
Speaking 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."
Urgency and Expert Advice
The Prime Minister is due 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, said 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 explained: "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.'"
