Prime Minister Andy Burnham is hosting a Downing Street summit with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey to try to find cross-party agreement on reforming England's adult social care system, which he says has been neglected by successive governments due to its complexity and political risk. The move comes as care costs push some people to sell their homes, unpaid carers face growing strain, and the NHS struggles to cope with pressures spilling over from an underfunded care sector.

Under the current system, anyone with savings above £23,250 receives no council help with care costs, making England one of the few places where all state support is means-tested rather than partly universal. Total net spending on adult social care in England was £28.7 billion in 2024/25, compared with an NHS budget of around £200 billion, yet Health Foundation polling found roughly a third of people wrongly believe the NHS provides most elderly care or that such care is free. Comparisons by the Nuffield Trust show England's system is less generous than those in Scotland (free personal care), Wales (higher means-test thresholds) and Northern Ireland (free domiciliary care), with Denmark cited as having one of the most generous systems internationally, offering free care to over-65s assessed as needing it.