The Casey Commission is to be undertaken in two phases with the first phase focused on developing a national care service and a fair pay agreement reporting back in 2026 and the second phase addressing longer term reform concluding in 2028.
However, newly published terms of reference call for the first phase to ‘produce tangible, pragmatic recommendations that can be implemented in a phased way over a decade'.
The commission has also been instructed to deliver a plan that must ‘remain affordable, operating within the fiscal constraints of Spending Review settlements for the remainder of this Parliament'.
Response
Fraser Rickatson, policy manager at Care England, said: ‘While a 10-year horizon may be realistic for delivering full-scale reform, it risks leaving too many people behind. We welcome the ambition and scope of the Commission, but there's a clear need for action in the here and now.'
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said the 2036 timeframe was deeply disappointing and ‘far too late, given our rapidly ageing population and fast changing world'.
Abrahams said ‘timidity' over the Commission's timeframe could be the result of public finance worries, adding ‘delaying the process of comprehensive social care reform will only make it harder to restore the NHS back to health in this Parliament, or even the next'.
Cllr David Fothergill, chair of the LGA Community Wellbeing Board, urged the Government to revisit the commission's timescale to ‘reflect the urgency of the situation, and the reality that people and organisations have already waited long enough for real change'.
Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King's Fund, urged the Commission not to wait until 2028 to deliver its recommendations.
He added: 'The challenge may be whether the Government is willing to act more urgently – or indeed at all – to implement these reforms. It will be essential that the Government commits to providing the necessary funding to implement the reforms the Commission recommends. While the Government may feel its priority is the upcoming 10-Year Plan for Health, adult social care must not get put to the back of the queue yet again.'
Minister of state for care, Stephen Kinnock, said: ‘This Government is grasping the nettle on social care reform, and I am delighted that Baroness Casey – one of our country's leading public service reformers – is taking forward this work.
‘Meanwhile we are taking immediate action including a £3.7bn funding boost to support social care authorities, money for an extra 15,000 home adaptations for disabled people, the biggest uplift to the Carer's Allowance threshold since the 1970s and the first ever fair pay agreement to boost recruitment and retention in the workforce.'
