National care service will finally tackle one of our greatest injustices, says IPPR

Prime minister Andy Burnham has today promised to introduce a policy long advocated by IPPR – a National Care Service. Harry Quilter-Pinner, executive director at IPPR, said:

“IPPR has long advocated that social care should be free at the point of need, just like the principle behind the NHS. If you have cancer in this country your care will be free. If you have dementia you have to pay for it. This is both illogical and unfair.

“But it would be equally unfair to ask younger generations to pay for this. They have been squeezed by frozen tax thresholds, student loan repayments and soaring housing costs, while the triple lock has protected and prioritised pensioner incomes.

“If reforming the triple lock can help fund a National Care Service, that deserves serious consideration. Ageing is going to become by far the biggest source of pressure on the public finances in the future. We need to confront that reality fairly, rather than continuing to load more of the cost on to younger and working-age generations.”