Cross-party talks on reforming adult social care in England are due to start next month

Inter-party talks on the future of social care will begin next month after the Health Secretary backtracked on criticism that a commission on the issue would take too long to bring about change.

Wes Streeting said he wanted all parties to “agree on the long-term direction of social care” and that the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Reform Party had all said they would work together on that.

An independent commission to reform adult social care in England was launched on Friday but was criticized for kicking much-needed reforms “into the long grass”. The final recommendations will not be made until 2028.

The taskforce, led by Louise Casey, will be charged with developing plans for a new national care service, which was a key promise in Labour’s election manifesto.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Streeting was repeatedly criticized for squandering the opportunity provided by a parliamentary majority to implement change quickly and instead setting up a new committee.

Streeting said: “I think that would be fair criticism if we weren’t already taking action on social care, if we hadn’t already done a lot in the first six months, if we weren’t announcing further action today, and If we were not clear about the fact that part one of the Casey Commission will not report in 2028 – it will report next year, and it will outline what we need to do during this parliament to lay the foundations for a national care service.”

If implemented, the idea will be heralded as the biggest shake-up in social care in England in decades, but its parameters will not be defined until the committee reports back.

Describing what he thought it would entail, Streeting said a national care service would be “about national standards – consistent access to higher quality care for older and disabled people across the country”.

Asked whether this meant people would not have to sell their homes to pay for their care, Streeting said: “I would certainly like to see people protected from the catastrophic costs of upfront care, which forces people to sell their homes and to move.”

Since 1997, social care has been the subject of three government committees, three independent committees, five white papers and fourteen parliamentary committee inquiries. Streeting said Labor was willing to go ahead with the social care proposals set out at the Dilnot Committee, but “we found the money wasn’t there” and “even if the money had been there, the councils weren’t been willing to implement it. from October 2025”.

According to Streeting, the new committee is needed to build a “national consensus” on the issue, similar to the broad political support for the National Health Service built up in the years after it was established in 1948.

“Next month we will have discussions between the parties,” Streeting said. “And I’m really encouraged by the fact that the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats and the Reforms have all said since the election that they want to work on this across party lines, and those conversations will start next month.

“We are going to work on setting up the committee. We will work on it across the committee, and I hope that when the committee reports ahead of the next general election, we can all agree on the long-term direction of social care. In the meantime, this government will continue with its work.”

The talks between the parties will focus on gaining support for reforms throughout parliament. Streeting said: “We want to ensure that from the outset of this committee, other political parties are included in the committee and given the opportunity to shape the mandate of the committee and have a say in how they want to work with the committee . during its operation.”