Visiting a care home today [Wednesday 29th July],
the Prime Minister will say he is making the choice to fix the
broken social care system by finding common ground across party
lines to tackle the big issues.
He will draw a line under decades of decline and a refusal to
tackle these problems head on, calling on all political parties
to focus on solving problems and find solutions together.
He will reiterate the need for a new kind of politics that puts
differences aside in order to come together and face up to the
challenges that Westminster has left unaddressed for too long.
Delivering on that pledge, he has invited the leaders of the two
main opposition parties, and , to meet with him tomorrow to kickstart this work and
discuss how to drive urgent reform on social care.
Speaking ahead of his speech, Prime Minister Andy said:
Last week I said we needed a different kind of politics:
problem-solving, not point-scoring. Nowhere is that more urgent
than social care.
For decades, governments have kicked this issue down the road
because they've seen it as too risky, too difficult, and too
complicated.
Politicians might have different views but I'm serious about
fixing this issue and to do that, we have to find common ground
and listen to others to find a way forward.
It's time to draw a line under people playing politics when
the human cost of that means carers struggling, families paying
the price and our NHS buckling under the strain.
This comes down to a choice. We can carry on passing the
problem to the next generation, or we can face it head on and
work together to build a care system that gives people dignity,
security and the support they deserve.
This is about bringing back hope that we can finally fix the
difficult issues that have been ignored for too long, and making
Britain believe again.
That's why I'm making this choice and I'm prepared to put
everything I've got behind it.
At the speech he will be joined by the Health and Social Care
Secretary and Baroness , who is leading the
Independent Commission on Adult Social Care which will draw up
recommendations to deliver a National Care Service.
She will also launch the Big Conversation on Care today, which
will give the public their chance to share their views and help
shape the future of adult social care in England so that it is
designed for the people it is there to serve.
It will be open to everyone through a new online platform,
starting off the conversation by asking people about the values
and principles we should all expect from a care system.
said:
For too long, we have been stuck in the same cycle: crisis,
promises of reform, another review, and then retreat, while the
people who need care, and their families, bear the brunt.
Fixing adult social care is about far more than money. People
are already paying for failure through council tax, pressure on
the NHS, their savings, giving up work, and the forced sale of
their homes. The choice is whether we keep putting money into a
system that is unfair, unpredictable and broken, or have an
honest conversation about how to build something
better.
That is why we need a public conversation on care that
tackles the tough questions. It's only by facing up to this
problem together that we can fix social care once and for
all.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- There are 1.46 million adult social care workers in England
(March 2026) and an estimated 4.7 million unpaid carers in
England.
- Last month (June 2026) an average 13,600 people a day were
stuck in hospital beds despite being medically fit to leave,
including some delayed because of the availability of adult
social care.
- Around 3,000 instances of corridor care are happening per day
as a result of widespread pressures on hospital capacity,
including pressures caused by discharge delays.
- The number of A&E attendances by people aged 65 and over
has increased from 3.3 million in 2011/12 to 5.8 million in
2024/25, high above the growth rate we'd expect if in line with
population growth.
- Cuts to social care funding between 2010 and 2018 led to an
estimated additional half a million A&E attendances a year
for people aged 65 and over.
