The NHS will collapse unless action is taken to fix the social care system across England, Andy Burnham has warned in his first major interview since entering Downing Street.
While the prime minister would not put a timeline on introducing care reforms, he argued that the government would not be able to cut NHS waiting lists until the system is reformed.
He also ruled out an early general election, and said Britain had to be “really serious as a country” in cutting the welfare bill.
The prime minister is expected to make an intervention on social care in the coming days, as well as on youth unemployment and devolution.
Unlike NHS care, social care is not free at the point of use, and high costs sometimes mean people are forced to sell their homes to pay for what they need.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Burnham said the NHS will never get back “to good waiting time standards until we fix social care”.
“I can’t put a timeline on it right here, right now”, he added. “If we don’t do it, the NHS will collapse under the weight of trying to care for people who’ve not really needed to end up in the NHS system.”
People with savings worth more than £23,250 are not entitled to help with the cost of care from their local council.
Reform of the social care system is unfinished business for Mr Burnham, who set out plans for change while he was health secretary in Gordon Brown’s administration.
His 2010 plans to overhaul social care for the elderly with the creation of a national care service for England were scuppered by the Conservatives, who claimed Labour would levy a “death tax” to pay for it.
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Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has written to Mr Burnham to challenge him to rule out tax rises or increased borrowing to pay for social care reform.
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has said he is ready to do “whatever I can to find a real and lasting consensus on social care”.
Responding to Mr Burnham’s remarks, Sir Ed said: “I know for a fact this morning that carers I know will feel a sense of hope that politicians may finally do something serious to fix care in our country.
“I am ready to roll up my sleeves and do whatever I can to find a real and lasting consensus on social care.
“Family carers must be at the heart of any new system, everyone must get the care they need and no one should lose their home as a result.”
Mr Burnham, who only re-entered parliament for the first time since 2017 in June, also said the government had to get “really serious” about reducing the benefits bill – as he pointed out the spend on housing benefits.
The prime minister indicated ministers could tighten the conditions attached to receiving support, while insisting more should be provided to help people into work.
He said mental health support should be provided “in work”, but warned he would not pursue “crude cuts” to reduce spending on welfare.
Spending on welfare was an issue that provided problems for his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer, who attempted to impose welfare reforms that would have saved around £5bn per year, but he was forced to U-turn on the majority of the cuts at the last minute following a furious revolt by Labour backbenchers.
The Conservative Party has been critical of high levels of spending, with Mrs Badenoch repeatedly telling Labour to cut it to fund defence.
Mr Burnham said: “I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare bill down, and one of the things I would point to was the sell-off of social and council homes in the 1980s onwards that has left us chasing rents in the private rented sector through the benefit system, which means we’ve got a very high housing benefit bill in this country.
“The building of new council and social homes over time will help get that benefit bill down in a fair and sustainable way.”
He continued: “I think the thing I’m just pushing back on is this idea that we go to a kind of crude approach, crude cuts to benefits to get the welfare bill down.
“Often that just pushes people into even more crisis and then even more public spending in another part of the system.
“We need a system that sets people up for success rather than pays for failure.”
He later said he would not force voters to go to the polls nationally before 2029 amid speculation he would seek his own mandate, with a fresh manifesto.
He told the BBC: “I’m going to rule it out. Yeah, there’s no early general election, I don’t think people want it.
“You know, we’ve – well, the opinion polls might say some people do, some people don’t.”
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