The long-running Whitehall approach of prioritising the NHS while allowing the crisis in social care to worsen appears to be very much intact
There is nothing that gets Labour ministers more exercised right now than talking about the dire situation they have inherited. It has been the main theme of the party’s first month in office, neatly summarised by Sir Keir Starmer last week when he told MPs: “There is a crisis and failure absolutely everywhere.” From packed prisons to NHS backlogs and a huge housing deficit, the new Government has inherited an almighty mess.
As a result, the care given to many vulnerable people is woefully inadequate. Providers are being forced to close services and turn down those in need. Waiting lists have grown and the amount of time that each carer has with a patient been slashed. Still, those receiving any support can be considered the lucky ones:
No government serious about fixing the NHS can do so without ending this disaster and first fixing social care. Indeed, investing in care pays handsome dividends: by preventing major problems before they arise, an immeasurable weight will be taken off the NHS. All of this ought to be blindingly obvious to the new Government, but there is no sign yet that it is.
Reeves’ claim that the changes were unaffordable is absurd. It is true that local councils needed more funding to deliver them, but the Chancellor had a choice: find a way to raise the money or simply scrap the changes. She chose the easy way out. The £1.1bn cost could have been covered by tax changes, including reform of council tax bands that, absurdly, haven’t been updated since 1993.
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