National care service

That this House notes £7.7 billion has been cut from social care budgets since 2010; further notes that this has resulted in 1.4 million older people not having the care they need for essential daily tasks and that 300,000 people are now on local authority waiting lists for adult social care services; notes the existing model of care provision through private providers, with 84 per cent of social care beds in the private sector, exacerbates the funding crisis through profit-making and dividend payments; regrets that the 170,000 unfilled vacancies in the social care sector are caused by chronic underpayment and poor working conditions, with up to three in four care workers not earning a real Living Wage; notes reports, including by the Centre for Health and the Public Interest, that around 10 per cent of the care home industry’s £1.5 billion income is taken out in the form of rent, profit, directors’ fees and debt repayments; further regrets that the Health and Social Care Levy will raise funds from those on low incomes whilst leaving wealth assets unaffected; notes that the £86,000 cap on social care costs will be of no benefit to the vast majority of ordinary people who do not have assets above this value, and is concerned it will not deliver sufficient funding to solve the social care crisis; and urges the Government to develop plans for a National Care Service funded fairly through progressive taxation, universally available to all, free at the point of use.