Labour leader accuses PM of having 'head in the sand' over adult social care

In the first Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) since the Easter break, a spat has broken out between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn, with the Labour leader accusing the Prime Minister of “having her head in the sand” over the current state of social care in the UK.

Whilst the Parliamentary session started off quite jovially with talk of the London Marathon, and notably, with no talk about Brexit, things soon turned sour when Jeremy Corbyn stood up to talk about social mobility, swiftly moving onto care.

He addressed the Prime Minister by stating: “The number of old people not getting the care they need has risen to 1.4m. Things are getting worse. Does the Prime Minister agree with Labour’s plan to properly fund social care or with her former deputy, who wants to tax the over 50s and take away their benefits?”

The comments were a thinly veiled dig at several recently proposed ideas about how to fund social care still to be addressed in the much delayed social care green paper.

These include MP Damian Green’s suggestion that people over the age of 50 should be made to pay at least £300-a-year more in National Insurance, plus recommendations made by the House of Lords about cuts to TV licences and winter fuel payments.

Theresa May stood up and had her say, answering: “I have said on a number of occasions in this House, I agree that we do need a sustainable long-term future for adult social care and we will be bringing forward proposals in relation to that.”

She then stated that the Government has given councils access to nearly 4 billion more for adult social care this year. She added extra funding for care amounted to “a nine per cent increase in real term funding for adult social care from 2015/16 and 2019/2020”.

She also mentioned the NHS Long-term plan introduced at the beginning of the year.

She continued: “It's not just about the funding in social care, but it’s also about “best practice” being seen across local authorities and NHS Trusts.”

Jeremy Corbyn responded by accusing the Prime Minister of “having her head in the sand” over adult social care.

Addressing the House, he said: “The reality is that there has been £7 billion cut from adult social care since 2010; a care system teetering on the brink and as care companies go into administration, the stress on the residents and their families is unbelievable. We need a serious strategy that ensures people get the social care they need, when they need it.”

The Prime Minister then stood up and drew attention to Mr Corbyn’s comments about people receiving care from companies in financial trouble, saying “it was a concerning time” for those involved.

She finished by saying: “The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has advised that there is no risk of service disruption at this time and that there should never be a gap in care for an individual. That’s because of the 2014 Care Act which places a duty on local authorities to protect individuals.”