Baroness Casey Warns Social Care Reform Will Fail Without Public Consent
Baroness Louise Casey of Blackstock used a major speech to local government leaders to warn that we must resist the temptation to attempt major reform of adult social care without first having an honest debate with the public about the hard choices involved.
Speaking at the Local Government Association Conference in Bournemouth yesterday (July 7), Baroness Casey set out how England does not currently have a functioning ‘system’ of adult social care, but instead a patchwork of services that has evolved over decades without a clear plan or public mandate.
Drawing on evidence gathered by the Casey Commission over the past year, she described a country under mounting strain from an ageing population, rising levels of disability, a withdrawing health service and increasing demand from working-age disabled adults, alongside fewer older people receiving support.
She argued that previous attempts at reform have failed because they have either tinkered with parts of the system or tried to push through bigger changes without securing public consent for the tough choices involved.
She warned that continuing down this path risks repeating a cycle of review, delay, and crisis. Baroness Casey instead set out her plans to have an honest, tough conversation with the public about what social care is for, who it should support, and what people should expect from the state and contribute in return.
Baroness Casey of Blackstock said: “We cannot keep pretending that a few tweaks will fix adult social care or attempt major reform without the public’s backing.
“That means having a proper conversation with the public about who social care is for, what the state should provide, what families can reasonably be expected to do, and what we should all contribute in return.
“Without that honest conversation with the nation about the difficult choices involved, we will be back here again and again.”
The Casey Commission will launch a national conversation with the public later this summer. It will engage with hundreds of thousands of people across the country through bringing together representative groups of the public, letting people have their say online and speaking directly to people who get care and support.
Damian Green, Chair of the Social Care Foundation and former First Secretary of State, said:
“A National Conversation about the future of Social Care is long overdue, so this is very welcome. That conversation must be realistic, and must address the difficult issues of where the extra money needed is coming from, how social care can escape from being seen as an add-on to the NHS, and what are the different roles of national and local government in a National Care Service. The voices of users, carers, and care providers must be heard in this conversation. “
Senior Policy Fellow at the health Foundation Lucinda Allen said, “We welcome the prospect of a ‘Big Conversation’ with the public on social care funding reform. This will be an important opportunity to raise awareness of the problems with the current system and build support for improving it.
“Our polling with Ipsos suggests confusion among the public about who is responsible for providing and paying for social care. It also shows a clear preference for the state playing a bigger role in paying for care – under the current system, only the very poorest people with the highest needs are eligible for publicly funded support.
“It is encouraging that Baroness Casey recently told MPs that she is open to speeding up her work. The government’s 2028 deadline for the commission has always been a concern, as it risks its recommendations landing dangerously close to the next general election. Andy Burnham knows better than most how the white heat of election campaigns has burnt previous plans for social care reform.
“The next prime minister must make social care an early priority to finally deliver the reforms needed to improve millions of people’s lives. The other parties also need to step up to support the change needed – after decades of political failure, this is a test of our political system as well as the leadership of the next Labour leader.”
The speech builds on Baroness Casey’s earlier call for a ‘reckoning’ on adult social care and comes ahead of the Commission’s phase one report which will be published later this year.
