\n<\/p>\n
The state of the social care system in England is a topic that’s made Andy Burnham angry for decades.<\/b><\/p>\n
As Gordon Brown’s health secretary he proposed a compulsory levy collected from people’s estates \u2013 an idea the Conservatives dubbed the “death tax”.<\/p>\n
He repeatedly returned to the issue when making interventions as the Mayor of Greater Manchester, and in his first major interview as prime minister back in July<\/a>, Burnham pledged to put “whatever political capital I have into fixing broken social care”.<\/p>\n We now have the first outline about how he hopes to do that.<\/p>\n But there are a host of unanswered questions about how the government would fund and deliver what could be an eye-wateringly expensive and politically perilous idea.<\/p>\n The prime minister told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he will go into the next election proposing a free-to-use, universally funded national care system.<\/p>\n Past governments have looked at how to reform social care and balked at the potential costs.<\/p>\n The Health Foundation has previously estimated that a free system could end up costing the taxpayer around \u00a318bn a year.<\/p>\n Burnham denied that figure but conceded that tackling the issue could make him “unpopular” with some.<\/p>\n He stressed that the current system comes with hidden costs for individuals and the state, such as people losing their houses to pay for costs and spending time in A&E because their home care isn’t adequate.<\/p>\n But it’s difficult to deny that this idea would come with a staggering up front cost and one the prime minister would have to lay out a far more detailed funding plan for, if he went into an election with this as his flagship proposal.<\/p>\n The last prime minister to attempt a substantial overhaul of social care was Theresa May, whose 2017 plans unfurled<\/a> when they were nicknamed the “dementia tax”.<\/p>\n Burnham said the manifesto that Labour was elected on at the last general election would make it “hard” to achieve his goal.<\/p>\n That’s a clear hint that he could well go into the next election pledging to increase tax in order to fund social care.<\/p>\n The manifesto that Burnham is currently bound by pledged not to hike income tax, VAT or National Insurance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n