Boris Johnson fails to finalise plans to mend social care crisis after pledging to include proposal in upcoming Queen’s Speech
- Prime Minister to include social care proposals in the Queen’s Speech next week
- But Boris Johnson has yet to finalise plans to ‘fix’ the crisis in social care
- Sources familiar with discussions said they were not aware of any firm proposal
Boris Johnson has yet to finalise plans to ‘fix’ the crisis in social care, despite promising to include proposals in the Queen’s Speech next week.
Little progress has been made almost two years after the Prime Minister said he had prepared a ‘clear plan’ to give the elderly the ‘dignity and security they deserve’.
The Daily Mail understands that the Treasury and No 10 have yet to agree a way to pay for the plans. And sources familiar with the discussions said they were not aware of any firm proposals.
Little progress has been made almost two years after the Prime Minister said he had prepared a ‘clear plan’ to give the elderly the ‘dignity and security they deserve’
‘I’d be surprised if the Queen’s Speech contains anything concrete,’ another source told the Financial Times.
Mr Johnson told the Commons liaison committee in March that it was ‘highly likely’ social care reforms would be contained in the Queen’s Speech.
He said a ten-year plan was needed to fix the problem of ‘the gulf between the NHS and social care into which so many fall’.
In his first speech as Prime Minister in July 2019, he said: ‘We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.’
Mr Johnson told the Commons liaison committee in March that it was ‘highly likely’ social care reforms would be contained in the Queen’s Speech
The Tory manifesto in 2019 pledged to ‘urgently seek a cross-party consensus’ to legislate to reform social care. And it said the ‘prerequisite of any solution will be a guarantee that no one needing care has to sell their home to pay for it’. But little progress has been made.
The Daily Mail has campaigned to end the injustice of families of dementia patients and those with other illnesses having to spend billions on care.
The Department of Health and Social Care said: ‘We are committed to improving the adult social care system and will bring forward proposals this year.’
The Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament on May 11 will set out the Government’s agenda for the next session.
Legislation will include reforming the asylum system and repealing the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.