Boris Johnson is reportedly supporting plans for a new tax to fund long-overdue reforms to social care in England.
Downing Street is “comforable with some sort of tax” to cover universal social care, a government source told The Times.
The reforms could also include a cap on how much people have to pay for their own care, it reported.
It comes after Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, said the government would have a plan to fix the social care system by the end of the year.
But Sajid Javid, who has since taken over his role, said last week he could not put “an exact date” on the commitment — but added that work was “intense”.
He said he hoped his department could reveal a “general sense of direction” for a “new offering on social care” soon.
According to The Times, the plans for social care reforms are still being finalised but there are “huge efforts from No10 to get the thing over the line”.
As well as a new tax to pay for the reforms, the proposals reportedly include extra funding to ensure more people get help and better bay for staff.
Back in July 2019, Mr Johnson promised to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all”.
Andrew Dilnot, who led a major review into social care funding a decade ago, warned earlier this year that the system could remain unfixed until after the next general election if plans were not revealed in the upcoming spending review.
“If we don’t make decisions this year, it’s very hard to see how they can be implemented before the next election,” he said.
