Baroness Casey outlines plans for conversation with public on appetite for “renegotiation of the social contract” on adult social care

Appearing at a Health and Social Care Committee hearing yesterday (24 June), the chair of the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care stressed that a National Care Service is “not beyond the wit of anybody, including previous governments, to have set out what a national care service would look like”.

However, she added the first step would be to work out what the National Health Service is currently providing, and where care fits within that or alongside it.

She warned MPs that care is currently being delivered in “a rather complicated way” - highlighting “a real fault line between what the national health service does and thinks about social care, and what the rest of us do and think about social care”.

In March this year, Baroness Casey warned that social care has never had its own “creation moment”, and highlighted the need for a national conversation and six “immediate actions” from Government.

This included asking the Government to scale up dementia trials, appoint a new ‘Dementia Tsar’, set up a new National Safeguarding Board to protect vulnerable adults, and to introduce a new fast-track, social care passport for people diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Responding to questions from the Health and Social Care Committee yesterday, Baroness Casey set out plans to launch a public debate about the case for reform of social care.

She said: “One of the things that has been missing on quite a significant scale is a sort of reset of the discussion with the public and to have a conversation with the public, which is two-way, on what their appetite is for, I suppose, a renegotiation of the social contract.

“And in order to do that we are about to – probably giving more away right now than I should do – but we hope in July we will commence that process in quite a big and deliberative fashion.”

Andy Burnham, who is predicted to become Prime Minister next month, has said that he wants to make reform of the adult social care system a priority.

Casey said she had spoken to Burnham, earlier in her review and more recently, adding that he has done “an awful lot of work on social care in Manchester”.

Asked if she would be able to expedite the process if that was something Burnham – should he become PM – wanted, she said: “Yes.”

She added: “Ministers have always been incredibly supportive of the fact that if we can bring the overall piece of work in earlier, we should.”

She told the Committee that the deadline for the Committee’s final report was “by 2028”, indicating that it could come sooner.

Lottie Winson