Andy Burnham handed stern warning by care agency boss ahead of social care overhaul

Andy Burnham has been handed a firm warning ahead of unveiling his plans to overhaul the social care system.

Speaking to GB News, the CEO of Visiting Angels Dan Archer urged the Prime Minister not to use the issue as a "political football".

During a press conference at a care home in London, the Prime Minister spoke personally of the care he has witnessed being given to his dad, and the "skill and professionalism" being demonstrated in the industry.

Mr Burnham argued that carers should be "the best paid people in society, not the worst", and it is "shameful" that politicians have put "point scoring ahead of fixing basic care".

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

Discussing the state of the care industry, Mr Archer stressed that cross-party support is needed in order to reform the system.

He said: "I think the Government needs to start with a full engagement with everybody in every political party about ensuring that this problem is addressed.

"It cannot be a political ball that gets kicked around at all. So there's been a step in the right direction by Andy Burnham by encouraging a cross-party talk, but he does need to make sure that every party is involved in that discussion."

Mr Archer argued there needs to be an "open discussion" about how care is funded and making sure it is "funded correctly".

Mr Archer told GB News: "The reality is that the social care system is not, and has never been free at the point of use. It's paid for by a complex cross group of organisations.

"It's either paid for by a local authority, it's paid for by the NHS or it's paid for by private individuals. And in many instances, it's also paid for by subsidies that come from private payers who are overpaying for their care or by family carers who are not getting paid at all.

"So I think in order to really fix this, there needs to be an open discussion about where that baseline actually sits in order to ensure that it's funded correctly."

He urged the Prime Minister to not only dedicate "political capital" to the issue, but "financial capital" as well.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• Andy Burnham warned social care reform is 'vital' ahead of cross-party crunch talks
• Andy Burnham faces ultimatum: raise taxes or cut spending as 'no scope' for borrowing
• Andy Burnham 'to impose new income tax on workers' to fund social care plans

He said: "It's possible for this to be done, but we need to be thinking about that money differently and not new money. The redeployment of other money is probably the right way to be thinking about it.

"We've got a case in South Yorkshire, a gentleman that we're supporting where the support that we are providing to him is saving the NHS £100,000 a year.

"I've said to the commissioners in that area, if they want to send me 10 cases, I'll very happily save the NHS £1million."

Mr Archer concluded that the fact that the system is "difficult to navigate" is "part of the problem".

He said: "I think very often when you talk to families in this area, they will talk about the complexity of navigating the system.

"The fact that any navigation at all is required is part of the problem. There shouldn't be navigation, it should be pretty straightforward, this stuff."

As part of his announcement, Mr Burnham has called for Baroness Louise Casey to bring forward her review into social care by a year.

The Prime Minister also called for a reform to the social care workforce to "lift it closer to NHS standards".

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter