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UK PM Burnham pledges overhaul of England adult social care costs
He said reforms may require difficult decisions, and he left open the possibility of tax rises to fund a new scheme.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham pledged to overhaul England’s adult social care system, arguing that costs for users are unfair and have left families facing very large bills as the population ages. Reuters reports Burnham likened the situation to US healthcare costs and said successive governments have failed to reform adult social care after earlier proposals were defeated by opposition parties, which criticized them as a “dementia tax” or “death tax.”
Burnham said he would not be deterred by negative coverage, dismissing “scare stories” from newspaper headlines, and told an audience at a care home in north London that Parliament has not faced up to the issue.
Asked whether he could transform social care without raising taxes, Burnham said more could be done within existing resources but that some plans would require difficult decisions. He also said he would stick to a manifesto commitment not to raise certain personal taxes, while not ruling out tax rises for a new scheme.