Labour’s Liverpool 2026 conference has put social care firmly at the centre of the political stage, most notably through its ambition for a National Care Service, one that is person-centred, free at the point of use and funded without additional borrowing. The proposed route to funding is to replace the pensions triple lock from April 2030 with a ‘double lock’, uprating the State Pension by inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher, while removing the earnings link.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s commitment to reforming social care is significant. First and foremost, it recognises that adult social care is not a marginal service, but essential national infrastructure. It enables people to live independently, supports unpaid carers, sustains families and communities, and helps prevent avoidable pressure on the NHS.
There is also encouraging public support for the direction of travel. An immediate YouGov poll following the announcement found that 74% of the public supported establishing a National Care Service free at the point of use, with just 11% opposed. When asked specifically about changing the triple lock to help fund it, 48% supported the proposal and 28% opposed it.
For the whole care sector, and particularly for learning disability and autism providers, this creates an important opportunity to argue for reform built around prevention, fair pay, meaningful choice and control, and a sustainable provider market.
The Big Question
However, the big question remains: how will the funding add up? The billion pound question in our minds is whether any proposed pension reform can finance the care provision being promised. Government estimates suggest the change could generate savings of around £15 billion a year by 2040. However, economists have warned that these savings would build gradually and would not, on their own, finance comprehensive free care during the next Parliament.
Mr Burnham has also acknowledged the possibility of a funding shortfall, stating that the Government would need to be ‘honest’ about where additional funding would come from.
This creates an important credibility test, where any national entitlement cannot rest on a investment strategy which builds slowly while the costs and pressures facing social care are immediate.
Free at the point of use?
What will ‘free at the point of use’ actually mean? There is also significant uncertainty about the scope of the proposed entitlement. Officials have indicated that the model could resemble Scotland’s free personal care system, where personal care is funded but accommodation and other ‘hotel’ costs associated with residential care are not.
Andrew Dilnot has warned that, while such a model would be less expensive, it would not necessarily protect individuals from catastrophic care costs or fully safeguard their homes and savings. In practice, people entering residential care could therefore continue to face substantial costs.
Evidence of pressures facing system
ARC England’s own evidence also highlights the significant financial pressures already facing the wider social care system. Drawing on eight years of Freedom of Information data, our 2025–26 Fee Rate Maps show that the average uplift in local authority fee rates for learning disability and autism services has fallen by 3.5%, adding further pressure to already stretched providers. In addition our analysis into health commissioning found a significant gap in national financial intelligence; 80% of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) were unable to report their total adult social care spend. The inability of 34 ICBs to identify this expenditure points to a fundamental lack of transparency and accountability at a time when policy increasingly depends on closer integration between health and social care.
ARC England believes we should welcome the ambition for reform, while pressing for the detail needed to turn it into lasting and sustainable change.
This should include:
- A transparent and independently tested funding plan, including the detail on the source and timing of any additional tax contribution.
- Clarity about the entitlement, including what will be free, who will qualify and how residential care costs and personal assets will be treated
- Immediate workforce investment, including a fully funded Fair Pay Agreement alongside investment in skills, career progression and retention
- Sustainable provider fees and fair commissioning, with greater investment in prevention, early intervention and community based support. (add our fee rate info)
- Genuine co-production, involving people who draw on support, unpaid carers, local government and providers in designing the new system.
- Equal recognition of working-age adults, ensuring that reform is not designed primarily around older people and residential care.
For our members, there is a fundamental question that now needs a clear answer:
Does the first phase of the National Care Service cover only older people? If so, when and how will working-age adults, including people with learning disabilities and autistic people, be included?
The National Care Service must be a service for everyone who needs social care, throughout their lives. The needs, aspirations and support models of working-age adults can be very different from those associated with later-life care. Their voices, and the experience of the organisations supporting them, must therefore be embedded in the design of the new system from the outset.
Sam Leonard, ARC England Director, said:
“The National Care Service must be genuinely universal and sustainably funded. Its development must involve providers and, crucially, people who use learning disability and autism services, so that it creates meaningful change for our communities, supports a sustainable provider market and helps reduce, rather than increase, pressure on the NHS.”
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