British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants to introduce free social care for everyone in England, putting the proposal before voters at the next general election as part of a major reform of the country’s care system.
In an interview with BBC on Sunday, he said he envisaged a system based on the principles of the National Health Service (NHS), in which “everyone contributes, everyone is covered.”
He did not rule out tax rises to fund the reforms, acknowledging that such measures could be “difficult or unpopular” with some voters.
Burnham is expected to set out his vision for social care on Tuesday.
The proposal would mark a significant change to the way adult social care is funded in England. Unlike the NHS, which is generally free at the point of use, social care is means-tested.
He noted the current system placed a “huge cost” on individuals and families. “I am talking about a system that works on NHS principles because that is the only way you can make it work,” he said.
“There is free personal care elsewhere in the UK. I don’t think it’s right that people in England don’t get the same and it’s not something we’re going to rush,” he added.
Burnham also linked social care reform to pressure on the NHS, arguing that a lack of available care contributes to delays in discharging patients from hospitals.
He said there was a “huge number” of people in hospitals across England who could not return home because the necessary social care was unavailable.
Asked whether everyone would have to contribute to his proposed system, Burnham said: “It will be a system of that kind – so everyone contributes, everyone is covered but not precisely necessarily in the same way that we currently pay for the NHS.”
He has yet to set out how the proposed system would be funded or whether it would require higher taxes.