Fixing Social Care: It is Time to Work Together

I warmly welcome the Prime Minister's dedication to fixing our broken social care system. Andy Burnham is making the choice to find common ground across party lines to tackle one of the biggest issues facing our country.

For too long, governments of different colours have failed to tackle the challenges in social care head-on. The Labour Government is drawing a line under decades of a lack of attention to the social care sector and is calling on all political parties to focus on solving problems and finding solutions together.

The Prime Minister has rightly reiterated the need for a new kind of politics that puts differences aside in order to come together and face up to challenges that Westminster has left unaddressed for too long. Delivering on that pledge, Andy Burnham has met with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to kickstart this work and discuss how to drive urgent reform on social care.

This matters so much to people here in Stockport. Families across our community know the pressures on the care system all too well, and too many people have been left without the support and certainty they deserve. We cannot continue passing this problem from one generation to the next.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank every care worker in Stockport and beyond. Every day, they provide compassion, dignity and support to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. They deserve a system that properly values and supports the vital work they do. This system also must support the millions of unpaid carers across Britain who make an extraordinary contribution in our communities, caring for loved ones and often putting the needs of others before their own.

Alongside this work, Baroness Louise Casey is leading the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care, drawing up recommendations to deliver a National Care Service. She is also launching a Big Conversation on Care, giving the public the 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, beginning by asking people about the values and principles we should all expect from a social care system. I encourage people across Stockport to take part and help shape a care system that gives people dignity, security and the support they deserve.

For decades, social care has been seen as too difficult or too politically risky to fix. It is time to draw a line under that approach. By working together across political divides and listening to those who rely on care, their families and the dedicated workforce, we have the opportunity to build a stronger care system that finally meets the needs of the people it is there to serve.