Andy Burnham has warned the NHS will "collapse" unless England's broken social care system is urgently reformed, piling pressure on the Government to tackle one of the country's longest-running policy failures.

The Prime Minister stopped short of setting a timetable for reform, but insisted fixing social care is essential if the health service is to recover from years of mounting pressure.

'The NHS Cannot Cope'

Speaking to the BBC, Burnham said the NHS would never return to acceptable waiting times while hospitals continued caring for patients who should instead be supported through a functioning social care system.

He warned that without reform, the health service would buckle under the strain. While refusing to commit to a deadline, he made clear the cost of delay would be borne by both patients and the NHS itself.

Pressure Builds for Long-Delayed Reform

Unlike NHS treatment, social care in England is means-tested, leaving many people to pay significant costs or sell their homes to fund care. Anyone with savings above £23,250 generally receives no financial support from their local authority.

Burnham has long argued for a national care service, having first proposed sweeping reforms while serving as health secretary under Gordon Brown. Those plans never materialised after fierce political opposition, and the funding debate continues to divide Westminster.

Funding Row Moves Centre Stage

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has challenged Burnham to rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to pay for social care reforms, setting the stage for another battle over public spending.

The Government is expected to outline its approach in the coming days as ministers seek to balance demands for improved public services with growing pressure on the public finances.

Welfare Reform Also in the Spotlight

Burnham also argued Britain must become "really serious" about reducing the welfare bill, while rejecting what he described as crude benefit cuts. He said rising housing benefit costs reflected decades of declining social housing, arguing that building more council homes would reduce long-term welfare spending more sustainably.

The Prime Minister also suggested tougher conditions could be attached to some benefits while expanding support to help people into work, particularly through improved workplace mental health services.

Burnham ruled out calling an early general election, insisting the country did not want another trip to the polls before 2029 and arguing the Government's focus should remain on delivering reform rather than political manoeuvring.

Andy Burnham warns NHS will collapse unless social care is reformed

So the hard working citizens that pay for the NHS will not benefit from their funding it, while the lefts beloved dingy sailors and other grifters will get it all free.

Classic labor stuff!

54 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

So the hard working citizens that pay for the NHS will not benefit from their funding it, while the lefts beloved dingy sailors and other grifters will get it all free.

Classic labor stuff!

The hard working citizens benefit by being able to afford a better standard of care home when unable to look after themselves. Those without funds have to take wherever the council place them.

The losers are the children of thrifty parents who may see all their inheritance go on care for their parents as their parents' house is sold to pay for care.

13 minutes ago, bannork said:

The losers are the children of thrifty parents who may see all their inheritance go on care for their parents as their parents' house is sold to pay for care.

If you are implying these "thrifty parents" will just sit by and let commie scumbags steal all their hard earned wealth Id suggest you are not grasping the situation.

Anyone with a few bob will just relocate for the benefit of their kids. Isnt the Isle of Man a close-by and sane haven? Lots of tax jurisdictions around the globe that allow assets to be passed down rather than taken by lefty states to pay for their hairbrained nonsense.

10 minutes ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

If you are implying these "thrifty parents" will just sit by and let commie scumbags steal all their hard earned wealth Id suggest you are not grasping the situation.

Anyone with a few bob will just relocate for the benefit of their kids. Isnt the Isle of Man a close-by and sane haven? Lots of tax jurisdictions around the globe that allow assets to be passed down rather than taken by lefty states to pay for their hairbrained nonsense.

I think you're referring to a member of the Lepus family, rather than a common feature on people's heads, harebrained.

There are already schemes whereby parents can parents can prevent the state taking the whole value of the property- a Life Interest Trust or Property Trust Will.

There there's an Immediate Needs Care Annuity.

Obviously there are other alternatives, for example once the kids leave home, the parents buy a smaller property and give the extra cash to their children.

Let it collapse.

It's not fit for purpose. Its a massive grift from top to bottom.

1 hour ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

If you are implying these "thrifty parents" will just sit by and let commie scumbags steal all their hard earned wealth Id suggest you are not grasping the situation.

Anyone with a few bob will just relocate for the benefit of their kids. Isnt the Isle of Man a close-by and sane haven? Lots of tax jurisdictions around the globe that allow assets to be passed down rather than taken by lefty states to pay for their hairbrained nonsense.

The Isle of Man isn't a viable option for most people. The UK structures wealth and income taxes based upon the geographic source of the income and the person's UK residency status. If people keep ties to the UK like mailing addresses, homes, credit cards, vehicles, licenses etc., they can still be subject to UK taxation. The days of moving assets to Jersey or Isle of Man are long over. Even relocating to the continent or elsewhere requires one to give up a presence in the UK, and it is a lot harder to do when older and if the children are in the UK.

9 hours ago, SunnyinBangrak said:

So the hard working citizens that pay for the NHS will not benefit from their funding it, while the lefts beloved dingy sailors and other grifters will get it all free.

Classic labor stuff!

Incorrect.

The NHS was not established to provide social care.

7 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Let it collapse.

It's not fit for purpose. Its a massive grift from top to bottom.

A rather bold hope for a guy who admits he doesn’t have health insurance.

Anecdotal I know, but here’s something I witnessed.

A young British guy I shared an office at an overseas duty post spent weeks calling lawyers and doctors in the UK.

His spinster aunt was suffering dementia and was being put into residential care, he was spending time and money to ensure her care was registered as ‘continuing care’ under the NHS.

As he openly stated, she had significant wealth, land and property, that would, he feared, be lost to care payments if the NHS did not pick up the tab for her care.

The NHS protecting his inheritance.

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Anecdotal I know, but here’s something I witnessed.

A young British guy I shared an office at an overseas duty post spent weeks calling lawyers and doctors in the UK.

His spinster aunt was suffering dementia and was being put into residential care, he was spending time and money to ensure her care was registered as ‘continuing care’ under the NHS.

As he openly stated, she had significant wealth, land and property, that would, he feared, be lost to care payments if the NHS did not pick up the tab for her care.

The NHS protecting his inheritance.

Inherited wealth is just wrong!

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Inherited wealth is just wrong!

It has its problems, but protecting inherited wealth at cost to the NHS/public purse is definitely wrong.

No panic Andy' you can always get them on empty boats and set sail to France and wake Macron' up at the same time.

Just now, Tidal wave said:

No panic Andy' you can always get them on empty boats and set sail to France and wake Macron' up at the same time.

And straight to the immigrunting.

There’s no doubt it’s a thing.

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

And straight to the immigrunting.

There’s no doubt it’s a thing.

A very early defense against the only credible suggestion made to Burnham's latest timebomb.

Or he could simply close our boarders detain illegal's and expunge probably now near 2 million with no right to be there saving enough cash to care for own elderly folks in a dignified manner.

Or just bat everything away for the 23rd social care reform time and use Higgot's' new tiresome buzzword.

7 minutes ago, Tidal wave said:

A very early defense against the only credible suggestion made to Burnham's latest timebomb.

Or he could simply close our boarders detain illegal's and expunge probably now near 2 million with no right to be there saving enough cash to care for own elderly folks in a dignified manner.

Or just bat everything away for the 23rd social care reform time and use Higgot's' new tiresome buzzword.

The borders will never be closed.

And got the immigrant fixated amongst us, the UK will never meet its social care needs without immigrants.

Taking care of your elderly starts at you.

51 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The borders will never be closed.

And got the immigrant fixated amongst us, the UK will never meet its social care needs without immigrants.

Taking care of your elderly starts at you.

The boat people are all highly educated individuals, including doctors and nurses.

1 hour ago, Effective altruism said:

The boat people are all highly educated individuals, including doctors and nurses.

If you say so.

8 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

A rather bold hope for a guy who admits he doesn’t have health insurance.

"Admits". Like its a crime to take care of your own bills. 😀

In 20 years here its cost me about 200,000 thb for one minor surgery and one unexpected "incident".

Not too bad. Plus the NHS isn't available in Thailand and I wouldn't trust them to cut my toenails.

I realize self insuring isnt possible for everyone though Higgot. Maybe you should have worked harder?

7 hours ago, Effective altruism said:

The boat people are all highly educated individuals, including doctors and nurses.

Mostly gynaecologists unfortunatly 🤔

7 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

"Admits". Like its a crime to take care of your own bills. 😀

In 20 years here its cost me about 200,000 thb for one minor surgery and one unexpected "incident".

Not too bad. Plus the NHS isn't available in Thailand and I wouldn't trust them to cut my toenails.

I realize self insuring isnt possible for everyone though Higgot. Maybe you should have worked harder?

If you pay tax in Thailand JonnyF, you can get social security for about 400 baht a month.

That will cover a lot of conditions. I used it for several minor surgeries,e.g. lost 2 fingers, severed the ligament in another.

It covered me for the cost of blood pressure pills, statins for over 20 years.

It won't cover the cost of cancer treatment though.

There are a lot of good doctors in Thailand.

Edited July 28Jul 28 by bannork

15 minutes ago, bannork said:

If you pay tax in Thailand JonnyF, you can get social security for about 400 baht a month.

That will cover a lot of conditions. I used it for several minor surgeries,e.g. lost 2 fingers, severed the ligament in another.

It covered me for the cost of blood pressure pills, statins for over 20 years.

It won't cover the cost of cancer treatment though.

There's a lot of good doctors in Thailand.

Thanks. I'd heard that before.

I do actually get health insurance provided by my employer as part of my package but the one time I needed it they wriggled out of paying by saying it was a pre existing condition as we'd renewed with a different company the previous year.

I actually worked for an insurance company briefly in the 90s and saw their tactics first hand. They always try to find a way out.

I detest them and hence avoid them as much as possible.

I also like to choose exactly when and where I am treated and that's much easier when insurers and social security are not involved.

One drawback with the state social security deal was you had to designate which hospital you would be treated at. Hardly convenient if you had an accident far away from that hospital.

37 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Mostly gynaecologists unfortunatly 🤔

Whose culture doesn't require consent.

How will Burnham save the NHS mosrt before failed and lost billions bailing it out. Burnham will do the same. Make you work older in life to pay the Tax he will take to plough into the NHS. Where else is going to fund it ?

1 hour ago, BarraMarra said:

How will Burnham save the NHS mosrt before failed and lost billions bailing it out. Burnham will do the same. Make you work older in life to pay the Tax he will take to plough into the NHS. Where else is going to fund it ?

Burnham has rightly called for a cross-party initiative to deal with the problem. There is no guarantee of success even if the parties agree on a way forward, but without such agreements it is difficult to see how he can succeed.

I didn't often agree with Ann Widdecombe but she was spot on when it came to the NHS

6.4 万次播放 · 884 个心情 | Ann Widdecombe believes that it is t...

Ann Widdecombe believes that it is time to have a mature, non party-political conversation about the future of the NHS - because we cannot continue to simply spend more and more on it #bbcqt

7 hours ago, JonnyF said:

"Admits". Like its a crime to take care of your own bills. 😀

In 20 years here its cost me about 200,000 thb for one minor surgery and one unexpected "incident".

Not too bad. Plus the NHS isn't available in Thailand and I wouldn't trust them to cut my toenails.

I realize self insuring isnt possible for everyone though Higgot. Maybe you should have worked harder?

There’s no such thing as ‘self insuring’.

As an aside, I never once accepted an overseas posting (you know that professional expat thing you claim to be a part of) that did not include comprehensive health insurance for me and my family.

Get the math right on your ‘self insurance’ Jonny, your tales don’t ever add up.

4 hours ago, RayC said:

Burnham has rightly called for a cross-party initiative to deal with the problem. There is no guarantee of success even if the parties agree on a way forward, but without such agreements it is difficult to see how he can succeed.

I didn't often agree with Ann Widdecombe but she was spot on when it came to the NHS

6.4 万次播放 · 884 个心情 | Ann Widdecombe believes that it is t...

Ann Widdecombe believes that it is time to have a mature, non party-political conversation about the future of the NHS - because we cannot continue to simply spend more and more on it #bbcqt

The lib dems have already stated their support for Burnham’s proposal to take social care outside the NHS.

Expect the Tories not to support anything that aims to prevent the NHS collapsing.

5 hours ago, BarraMarra said:

How will Burnham save the NHS mosrt before failed and lost billions bailing it out. Burnham will do the same. Make you work older in life to pay the Tax he will take to plough into the NHS. Where else is going to fund it ?

The NHS is a public service, it’s not a for profit organisation and therefore does not lose money and is not ‘bailed out’.

If the NHS collapses who will bail it out ? The Government or the Tax payer.