Labour leader Andy Burnham opened up about his own family’s experience as he spoke about reforming social care ahead of entering Number 10 and taking over from Sir Keir Starmer
Andy Burnham’s dad does not know he will be the next prime minister because of his Alzheimer’s, the Labour leader said. The incoming PM has vowed to “grasp the nettle” of reforming the adult social care system, drawing on his father Roy’s experience.
He said his dad was unaware that he is on the brink of power. The Makerfield MP said: “That’s a sadness because he would be (proud). The way I look at it, it’s his achievement as well. A whole family achievement although he doesn’t know it.”
His dad was also unaware that Mr Burnham had swung behind one of his political passions, a change in the voting system to proportional representation.
He told the Times: “I don’t think he’s ever realised, because of his condition, that I’ve come round to PR, which is one of his missions – to get me to accept that.”
Mr Burnham said the family, including his youngest daughter, visited his father last Sunday. He said: “We were at his care home. My two brothers were there, my mum was there. So, all five of us together, which was a nice thing.”
Reform of the social care system is unfinished business for Mr Burnham, who set out plans for change while he was health secretary in Gordon Brown’s administration. Mr Burnham described the “broken social care system” in England as “the worst of all worlds” and insisted it is a “massive” priority for the public.
The PM-in-waiting, who will take up his role in Number 10 today (July 20), acknowledged reform will “require something difficult”, after his efforts to do so more than a decade ago failed.
His plans in 2010 to overhaul social care for the elderly with the creation of a national care service for England were turned against Labour by the Conservatives, who claimed they would levy a “death tax” to pay for it. “The minute that poster landed with the gravestones, that was it. My reforms were dead,” Mr Burnham later admitted.
Now he has pledged to “expend political capital” during his premiership on what he said has been a long-neglected sector – accusing Westminster of having “flinched” from such big decisions for too long.
Name-checking the issue in his first speech after formally replacing Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, he told a special conference in London on Friday: “Let’s take a problem-solving rather than a point-scoring approach.
“Let’s have the courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected, like social care, and have the conviction to go out there together and argue for our plans.”
How adult social care works and is funded in England has been a thorny issue for many governments over the years. Unlike NHS care, social care is not free at the point of use and high costs sometimes mean people are forced to sell their homes to pay for what they need. People with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with the cost of care from their local council.
Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading an independent review into the sector and is expected to publish a report later this year, recently said that there have been no fewer than 22 attempts since 1997 at reforming the sector – none of which had “fixed the foundations”.
After becoming Labour leader Mr Burnham referred to his family’s own experience of the system. He said: “I think it’s about being prepared to grasp the nettle. I’ve got personal experience of the system. My dad has Alzheimer’s and you see what the staff have to put up with. It’s not their fault. The system’s broken. You can’t leave social care like this.”
He said that while reform “will require something difficult” he believes the public want a better system. He added: “The NHS won’t get back to where it needs to be when you have a broken social care system that can’t keep people out of hospital.
“So this is massive when it comes to the things that people care about. And I’m not going to do what Westminster has traditionally done, which is to kick the can down the road on this important issue.”