The Prime Minister announced a new settlement for older people yesterday: a state pension ‘that rises every year’, no personal care charges and a high-quality National Care Service to give peace of mind in later life
- A National Care Service will be established in the next Parliament, providing free personal care for older people, based on need rather than ability to pay.
- The current State Pension Triple Lock will be maintained – but only until April 2030. From then, it will be adjusted so the State Pension rises by at least inflation or 2.5% each year with a new link built in to keep pace with earnings over time.
- Savings under the adjusted Triple Lock will be used for a new National Care Service, with Baroness Casey to recommend how and when it is built up.
The Prime Minister announced a new settlement for older people today: a state pension that rises every year, no personal care charges and a high-quality National Care Service to give peace of mind in later life.
The vision set out today draws a line under decades of drift with a clear plan to fix the system so that people can receive the dignity and security they need.
The Prime Minister warned today that if we don’t fix our broken social care system, it will eventually break the NHS too. There are huge costs to the NHS both through pressures on A&Es and an inability to discharge patients home because of a lack of adequate social care.
The new National Care Service will be introduced in phases, so its scope can grow as the savings increase from adjusting the Triple Lock, and as workforce and provider capacity are built up. It will be fully funded – and not through borrowing.
Baroness Casey will recommend how this could be done through the work of her independent Commission, which is being informed by public deliberation and ongoing cross-party talks. Her report is due in summer 2027.
The current Triple Lock will be maintained throughout this Parliament, increasing the State Pension by over £2,000. But from April 2030, the adjusted Triple Lock will mean the State Pension continues to rise by 2.5% or inflation – whichever is higher – and by even more if that is required to maintain its value relative to earnings.
This will ensure the living standards of pensioners keep up with the rest of the population. For example, if the value of the State Pension is around a third of average earnings by 2030/31, as average earnings rise, the State Pension will rise in line with that too.
This adjusted Triple Lock will mean that if inflation spikes, pensioners will be protected. If wages rise, pensioners will share in that, with the State Pension tracking earnings over time. Nobody’s pension will ever go down. And State Pensions will be put on a sustainable footing for decades to come.
The Government will legislate for the change during this Parliament.
Adjusting the Triple Lock is estimated to reduce state pension spending by £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s, rising to £50 billion a year by 2050.
The UK will continue to have one of most generous approaches to increasing the State Pension in the world, according to the government – but British pensioners have the LOWEST STATE PENSIONS IN EUROPE.
The plans provide a credible pathway to delivering a National Care Service that will put an end to years of neglect where vulnerable people have been left at risk as a result of Westminster’s failure to face up to the difficult issues. The new system will include personal care, helping with things like eating, bathing and using the toilet.
Following the Prime Minister’s vision for the core principles of the service, Baroness Casey’s independent Commission will continue its work to develop recommendations on how to deliver it in practice, and will soon begin the next phase of its ‘Big Conversation on Care’ to make sure everyone gets the chance to feed in their views.
Around three in four adults over 65 are expected to need care and support during later life, with one in seven facing costs of more than £100,000. Currently, whether someone pays for care varies significantly by condition.
Two people with the same need for help with everyday tasks may face different rules if one needs support linked primarily to a health condition and the other to social care. The result is a broken system where the most vulnerable in society are at risk of losing everything just to access basic care.
The service will not cover bed and board, for which existing means-tested council contributions will remain. Councils will continue to exclude the value of a home from financial assessments where a partner or dependent relative lives there, and deferred payment agreements will remain available to help eligible people avoid having to sell their home during their lifetime to meet care costs.
Tackling the broken social care system is part of the Prime Minister’s pledge to take on the most difficult issues facing the country that have been left ignored by politicians for too long. ‘By facing up to the challenges that others have said are intractable, like fixing the youth unemployment crisis and ending rough sleeping, this government is working to bring back hope’.
REACTION:
Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK said: “We applaud the Prime Minister for his absolute commitment to fundamentally reform our broken social care system and to build a National Care Service.
“It is a critical issue that affects us all. Almost everyone will give or receive care at some point in our lives. Yet 16 years since the last White Paper set out the fundamentals of what a National Care Service might look like, the complexity and problems with social care have grown far worse. Change has never been more urgent, and the Prime Minister has grasped this.
“Recent Carers UK research has found a staggering 1.1 million people have left employment to care within the last two years, the equivalent of 1500 people a day. One in five employees (20%) now has a caring responsibility.
“Great social care has the ability to transform lives, help people to stay in work and also create valued jobs. As Baroness Casey’s work moves forward, we want to see the Prime Minister’s commitment today become a really ambitious settlement, with unpaid carers at its heart, that will truly deliver, providing people and families with the high-quality support they need.”
