Savings under adjusted Triple Lock will be used for new National Care Service, Burnham announces

From April 2030, the State Pension Triple Lock 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 then be used for a new National Care Service, with Baroness Casey to recommend “how and when it is built up”, the Government noted.

The National Care Service will be introduced in phases, so its scope can grow as savings increase, and as workforce and provider capacity are built up.

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.

In July, Burnham confirmed he would bring forward the date for Baroness Casey’s commission to report back with a plan on how to deliver the National Care Service, accelerating this from 2028 to next summer.

Setting out a path to “fix social care”, the Prime Minister warned that social care reform is essential not only for those actively needing support, but also for the long-term future of the NHS.

According to the Government, the new National Care Service will include personal care, helping with things like eating, bathing and using the toilet. 

However, the service will not cover bed and board, for which existing means-tested council contributions will remain.

The Government said: “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.”

Responding to Burnham’s adult social care announcement, ADASS President Phil Holmes said: “It’s good to see the Government’s commitment to break the deadlock on adult social care reform and to put forward proposals for a universal system in which everyone who needs care can get it. 

“But we cannot afford to wait until the next General Election in 2029 or the recommendations of the Casey Commission in 2027 to act. There is much that government, councils and the wider social care sector can do now to lay the foundations for fundamental reform – including making housing a central part of the social care solution, unfreezing the capital thresholds so more people can access state-funded support, and investing in councils so they are financially stable.”

He added: “Successive governments have failed to fix social care, we hope this marks an opportunity to put party politics aside, build consensus and finally deliver the fundamental reform that people who draw on care and support, carers and the workforce have waited far too long to see.”

Lottie Winson