Andy Burnham vows to use his ‘political capital’ to fix social care system | Social care

Andy Burnham has promised to use “whatever political capital I have” to finally fix the crumbling social care system in England, saying that without rapid action the NHS could effectively collapse.

In his first full interview since becoming prime minister last week, Burnham said he could not put a timetable on the arrival of a new system for social care but that its creation would take time.

Burnham has repeatedly said he hopes to properly tackle a political issue that has been repeatedly neglected by governments, highlighting personal experience with his father, who has Alzheimer’s disease and requires care.

Asked whether he would create an entirely new system for social care before the next election, the prime minister told the BBC he would go as quickly as he could on its “reform”. He added that a completely new system would take time.

“I think there are major changes you can make before the next election. This costs the NHS billions of pounds, and we will never get the NHS back to good waiting time standards until we fix social care,” he said.

Asked whether he had the necessary political will to make this happen, Burnham said he had promised previously to tackle the issue and “I won’t change coming into this job”.

He said: “I’m not going to take different positions than the ones I’ve long put to you in interviews. Whatever political capital I have, I will put into fixing broken social care, and I would not want to leave office without having brought in the substantial change, the new system of social care that you described.

“I can’t put a timeline on it right here, right now. 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.”

Burnham also said the UK had to “get really serious as a country” about reducing the amount spent on social security and other benefits. However, he added that he did not want to demonise people who claimed social security.

Asked whether there were people claiming benefits who, in his view, did not need them, he replied: “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily go straight to blaming those people. What I would say is that there are people in the benefits system, young people in their 20s, who have been, I would say, quite seriously let down because the support wasn’t there for them when it should have been there.

“So I don’t blame them. I don’t think the support has been there for them in the way that it should have been.”

Burnham has also promised to overhaul the wider benefits system, a process begun under Keir Starmer, which has included a review into payments for people with a disability or illness, as well as a study of how to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment, or training.

Asked how he hoped to balance any changes, Burnham said: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.

“So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits. I think it’s a good thing that the government has given guarantees of opportunities for young people.

“And I think we need to continue down that approach, and where mental health support is needed, for instance, it’s provided in work to support people in an opportunity. Let me just say something more, though, about what you’re driving at, which is the welfare bill. I think we’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting welfare down.”

The Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, wrote to Burnham on Sunday, reiterating an existing offer that her party would work with the government on transforming social care – but only on the basis of conditions the government could not realistically sign up to.

These include that the plan is “fair” to people with savings, which would rule out many approaches in which people contribute to their own care, and that it also rules out any tax rises or borrowing to pay for the scheme instead.

In the interview, Burnham also promised to stick to existing fiscal rules and take a “cautious approach” with the public finances, saying he needed to abide by Labour’s 2024 election manifesto.

After refusing to give specifics on a series of policy issues – such as how and when defence spending would increase as well as options for reforming social care – Burnham dismissed the idea he was stalling, saying he had been “pretty active” in his first days.

But pressed on ideas such as whether he may consider raising more money through a wealth tax, the prime minister said it was too early to look at such a thing.

“I’m four days in,” he said in the interview, which was carried out on Thursday but is being broadcast on Monday evening. “You’re asking me, now, to write the next budget or the next manifesto.”

Saying he wanted to look at some changes to tax, for example the thresholds and bands for council tax payments, Burnham said he was necessarily limited by taking over outside a general election.

He said: “I am saying to you that we need to honour the manifesto upon which Labour was elected, and if I was to bring forward any changes, obviously people would rightly say, well, is this consistent with that manifesto?”

On defence, Burnham similarly argued that it was unfair for him to set out immediately when the UK would reach the target of spending at least 3% of GDP on this.

But he argued his decision to appoint John Healey as chancellor – Healey resigned from Keir Starmer’s government because of what he said was a slow trajectory towards 3% – showed his commitment.

Asked why he could not say when 3% would be reached, Burnham responded: “I think that’s a little unfair, because I was standing in Downing Street just a few days ago, talking about the crucial importance of Britain honouring its commitments on defence.”