Voters Have “Little Faith” In Politicians Social Care Promises

New research from retirement specialist Just Group uncovers little public faith in politicians to deliver an effective later-life social care system.

Just Group’s research found that three-quarters (75%) of voters in England – aged 18 and above – do not believe that the Conservative government of 2019-24 achieved its aim of fixing social care, with only 12% saying otherwise.

After years of false starts and dead ends, Boris Johnson unveiled what many hoped would be flagship reforms to social care in 2021, after pledging to “fix social care once and for all” when he came to office as Prime Minister.

Aimed at people with modest levels of wealth and those facing ‘catastrophic costs,’ the reforms were designed to help people should they require extended periods of professional care and support.

Then, in the November 2022 Autumn Statement, came the news that the changes would be delayed until at least October 2025, pushing reforms back until after the upcoming General Election in July.

Even among voters intending to vote Conservative in next week’s General Election, only 22% agreed the Conservative party had delivered on its promise. And this drops to 10% among those who voted Conservative in the 2019 General Election.

Disappointingly, the repeated failure to deliver on social care policy reforms appears to be eroding voters’ faith in any political party addressing the problem of social care effectively.
Regardless of who wins the General Election, only a fifth (22%) of adults in England think that an effective later-life social care system will be delivered in the next five years.

Confidence is highest among those intending to vote Labour (35%) on 4 July and lowest among those intending to vote Reform UK (11%).

Stephen Lowe, group communications director at retirement specialist Just Group, said: “Voters are fed up of broken promises and lofty policy pledges that are then delayed. The vast majority feel the Conservative party failed to deliver on its much-vaunted social care reforms of 2021 and the promise to “fix” social care.

“The voting public seems to have concluded that past performance is an indication of future performance – our research highlights a distinct lack of public belief in the likelihood of any party delivering an effective later-life social care system.

“Improvement in later life social care is crucial in order to meet our society’s demographic and healthcare challenges; and it’s generally agreed that our current social care system is not only inadequate but also exacerbating the strain on the NHS as patient discharge times remain high.

“With 3.5 million people over 65 now living alone, an increase of around 420,000 in the last decade, it is clear that we can ill-afford another lost parliamentary term on social care.”