Incoming Prime Minister Vows to Reform Adult Social Care System

The incoming prime minister said his father, who has Alzheimer's, is unaware that he will take office on Monday. He described the situation as a sadness because his father would be proud of the achievement. The incoming prime minister told The Times that his father is also unaware that he has supported a change to proportional representation, which had been one of his father's political priorities.

He said the family visited his father at a care home last Sunday.

The incoming prime minister has vowed to reform the adult social care system, citing his father's experience. He described England's current system as broken and said it is a massive priority for the public. He said reform will require difficult decisions after his earlier efforts as health secretary more than a decade ago were unsuccessful.

Those plans were criticized by opponents who claimed they would introduce a death tax. The incoming prime minister said he will expend political capital on the issue and will not kick the can down the road.

Reform of adult social care in England has been attempted 22 times since 1997 without fixing the foundations, according to Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading an independent review expected to publish its first report later this year. A previous prime minister pledged in 2019 to fix the crisis in social care, but that effort did not succeed.

Labour faced criticism after scrapping plans for an £86,000 cap on personal care spending following the 2024 election. The incoming prime minister said people currently pay for care in the most unfair way possible, comparing the system to American healthcare.

He said the more vulnerable a person is, the more they end up paying, and that people can lose everything they have worked for.