Last Updated on July 30, 2026

The Prime Minister has set out his strategy for reforming the social care system in England via a series of announcements.

In a major speech yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that he has asked Baroness Louise Casey to fast-track her final report, due to be published in 2028, to summer 2027. The review is intended to examine and make recommendations on how to build a National Care Service that integrates with the NHS. Baroness Casey also launched the 'Big Conversation on Care', a public engagement initiative to seek the views of up to one million people across England on the future of social care. The consultation is due to conclude by April 2027.

The Prime Minister – who has invited leaders of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to cross-party discussions on identifying common ground for social care reform – also announced plans to expand the existing social care fair pay agreement into a broader workforce reform. This will aim to improve pay, training, job security and career progression for care workers – including creating progression routes from social care into NHS positions, and treating the two sectors increasingly as 'one workforce'.

The Prime Minister also used his speech to ask politicians and the press to resist the temptation to reduce a serious question to a slogan, because the history of social care reform is in large, a history of sound proposals killed by framing and messaging, rather than on their substance.

Commenting on the announcements, Harriet Edwards, Director of Influencing at Sense, said, 'Change could not be more urgently needed in the social care sector, and so we're relieved and hopeful to see the new Prime Minister's focus and passion in this area. It's important to remember that roughly a third of people who receive long-term adult social care are working-age adults. And one in five disabled people with complex needs are living without the right care and support. Their voices and perspectives must be central to this conversation.

'Burnham is right to discuss how powerful and life-affirming social care can be. We know disabled people want more than just care to meet their basic needs, they want connection, independence and the opportunity to live the lives they chose. The Government also must make sure that accelerating the final report of the Casey Commission doesn't compromise engagement opportunities with disabled people and their families. Disabled people with complex needs have been waiting far too long for change, and we hope politicians of all parties will get behind these plans.'

Dr Jane Townson OBE, Chief Executive of the Homecare Association, said, 'We warmly welcome the Prime Minister's determination to reform social care and to build public understanding and cross-party consensus. Fix care at home and you free up the GP appointment you cannot get and the hospital bed your family may one day need.

'Anyone who has seen a well served self-funder knows what quality care looks like: a trusted local provider chosen by the family, a care worker you know arriving when they said they would, and visits shaped by need rather than a stopwatch. Our ambition is for every citizen to have that opportunity, whoever pays. The state's role then changes from purchaser of minutes to guarantor of the system: it assesses, funds, prices, licenses, rates and holds to account, while the citizen chooses.

'We cannot move to that at scale overnight. The countries that deliver it built the foundations first, and so must we. That is why reforming how care is commissioned now matters so much – and why free personal care, on its own, is not enough. Free at the point of use must be funded at the point of delivery. We stand ready to work with the Prime Minister, the Government, the Casey Commission and all political parties to build a care system worthy of the people it serves.'

James Arrowsmith, Partner at Browne Jacobson, said, 'Delivering an NHS-style model in adult social care is hugely ambitious but reflects the bold, long-term thinking that is required to put social care on equal footing with healthcare. Whatever vision the Government may emerge in relation to adult social care must be rooted in reality, however. The sector features a broad range of for-profit and not-for-profit organisations, with various funding models, and the vast majority deliver excellent person-centred care.

'Burnham has already spoken about building political consensus, while the Big Conversation on Care aims to bring the public on board with reforms, but it's vital the Government also engages the sector – including commissioners, providers, investors, staff and service users – to understand what is and isn't working. While details on the exact nature of reforms are still to be tabled, there have been suggestions the Government may attempt to ensure public funds are only available to non-profit-making providers, which would follow the direction of travel set by Sir Keir Starmer's administration in children's social care reforms.

'Such a move in adult social care would require careful consideration of how responsibilities are transferred to the public sector or how independent providers modify their models so they can continue to work with local authorities, so that councils do not lose access to existing high-quality provision. Continuity of high-quality services has to be the priority in any change project involving care.

'As we have seen with healthcare, however, there continues to be an important role for private hospitals for those who choose a higher standard of care. We'd expect to see this replicated in adult social care, meaning there will remain a place in the system for privately-backed, for-profit care providers that invest in delivering the highest quality services.

'Finally, while accelerating the work of the Casey Commission is of course welcome, the Government should consider where capacity for implementing reforms will come from at a time when local government reorganisation and devolution is already eating up a lot of time and resource within local authorities. The outcome of the commission is just the start, and planning will need to start now if the sector is to be positioned to begin a transition toward a new model of care from 2027.'

Kehan Zhou, Chief Executive Officer at Person Centred Software (PCS) Group, said, 'We welcome the Prime Minister's commitment to a person-centred social care system, and to bringing forward the Casey Commission. After years of short-term fixes, a considered, cross-party process is exactly what this sector needs. Change has always been about policy and funding. What's been missing is evidence of what actually works, day to day, for the people receiving care. Social care and healthcare are two sides of the same system – pressure in one always shows up in the other – and connecting that data is what will make reform successful.

'At PCS, "person-centred" isn't a phrase to us, it's how our technology is built: we help carers spot problems like infections or falls before they happen, so people stay well and out of hospital. Our role is to support carers and ease pressure on the NHS, using our solutions powered by the largest structured dataset of social care in the UK. We will share what we're learning with the Big Conversation on Care and the Casey Commission.'

Professor Oonagh Smyth CBE, Chief Executive at Skills for Care, said, 'It's excellent to hear the Prime Minister promise to focus on the 1.5 million people working in adult social care straight away. Our people will be the heart and soul of a National Care Service – so we need a shared ambition to lift up these skilled professionals and offer clear career pathways, better progression opportunities and improved integration with health.

'The Prime Minister is absolutely right to recognise that improving pay for care workers needs to go hand in hand with wider workforce reforms. Better pay will help us attract and keep more people with the right skills and values, but it's only by combining it with opportunities to develop and progress that we'll truly be able to make adult social care a rewarding career in every sense.

'The good news is that we already have some strong foundations that can enable these reforms to happen fast. A very important one is the Care Workforce Pathway, which Skills for Care worked with Government to develop and is now being expanded and rolled out across the sector. It sets out, for the first time, a clear structure for careers in adult social care, with the knowledge, skills values and behaviours needed – enabling exactly what the Prime Minister's talking about.

'We also have the workforce support infrastructure in place to deliver reforms quickly. With renewed political will, we can use everything we've got to accelerate our efforts to build a workforce that can provide the best possible care for everyone who draws on it.'

Jonathan Carr-West, Chief Executive at the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU), said, 'Much of what the Prime Minister announced [...] was very positive and demonstrated an urgency that has often seemed to be lacking in the past. But, there was a large local government-shaped space in his speech.

'Social care comprises the majority of council discretionary expenditure, so any effort to fix the very broken system has to be viewed as part and parcel of local government reform. The question now is whether an accelerated timeline can take us far enough along the road of genuine co-design and financial credibility so that progress doesn’t stall when election fever kicks in.'

Helen Wildbore, Chief Executive Officer at Care Rights UK, said, 'We wholeheartedly welcome the commitment and determination shown by the new Prime Minister [...] to reforming social care. It was encouraging to hear someone at the very top of Government speak from the heart about their personal experience, with such awareness of the realities of care and honesty about the challenges. Crucially, front and centre of the speech was the value of social care as something so fundamental to life.

'It is heartening to see the new Prime Minister making reform of social care a personal commitment and a test of his time in office, pledging to find a solution for his dad and the millions like him. For the older people we support, this change cannot come soon enough.

'We welcome the announcements on social care made by the Prime Minister [...], including bringing forward the work of the Casey Commission on reform, something we have been calling for. There is a much-needed injection of urgency on finding a cross-party solution, with talks beginning today. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the lives of older and disabled people and their families. Now is the time for politicians to work together to create a better care system for us all.'

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said, 'This is a rare and valuable moment, and the worst thing that could happen to it is a return to the sloganeering that has stalled reform for the better part of two decades, so my appeal to every party coming to the table, and to all who report on their proposals, is to treat these issues with the seriousness they deserve and to let the public join the conversation before the answers are shouted down.

'Making a success of reform this time must involve co-production with the care providers who have held services together despite dwindling funding. Any reform that fails to support the small businesses providing this service and growing the economy in every locality is bound to collapse before it begins, whereas one built on working alongside the people who deliver care will not. We have invited the Prime Minister to work with the sector and help us clear the funding and workforce hurdles that stand between our joint ambition and its delivery. Social care has waited long enough for its moment and so have the people it exists to serve.'

Vic Rayner OBE, Chief Executive Officer at the National Care Forum (NCF), said, 'A momentous day for social care! Less than two weeks into his premiership, the Prime Minister stood up to speak up for social care at a launch event at Jewish Care, an NCF member and not-for-profit provider. He spoke with passion and candour about his commitment to creating the change that he has long campaigned for, and that is fundamental to communities and people up and down the country.

'We welcome the ambition he set out, including speeding up Baroness Casey's independent commission and the commencement of cross-party talks to establish a commitment to the future of adult social care that transcends party politics. He recognised the broken cycle of research, review, repeat of the last thirty years and promised action. The big conversation that has started [...] will be a key element of the drive to build engagement and consensus amongst the public.'

For the latest Government policy announcements on adult social care, visit GOV.UK.

In other news, new Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) research findings published today explore how inequities shape social care experiences.