Disabled people don’t need another inquiry. We need change

Social care in the UK is extremely outdated. It’s still based on a ‘medical model’ that frames the body or mind of a Disabled person as something that needs to be ‘fixed’.

This model allows local authority officials searching for quick savings to resort to regressive, ableist policies; placing us in residential care where they can meet our ‘needs’ and save costs without regard to our wants or independence.

The result is that just 13% of people are satisfied with the social care system, according to last year’s annual British Social Attitudes survey – the lowest level of satisfaction recorded since the survey began in 1983.

It’s clear that we are in urgent need of comprehensive reforms. But as Parliament returns from its summer recess, none look likely to be forthcoming from the new Labour ministers, at least if the King’s Speech in July is anything to go by. The speech, in which Keir Starmer’s new government set out its legislative agenda, disappointingly made no mention of adult social care.

Instead, Starmer’s government will follow in the footsteps of all its predecessors over the past 25 years, which have variously launched papers, policy documents, independent reviews and consultations all proposing to fix the social care system. None has had any tangible success.

Instead of policy changes, it seems we're going to have yet another inquiry. While this has yet to be officially announced, the new Labour minister for local government and English devolution, Jim McMahon, appeared to confirm there will be a Royal Commission on Care in a speech to the Local Government Association’s Councillors’ Forum in July.

In other words, another government is offering “another can-kicking-down-the-road manoeuvre”, says Rick Burgess, a long-time campaigner at the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People.

“Because a working system of social care, ideally supporting independent living, will cost more money, no party wants to go it alone,” Burgess told openDemocracy.

“So we keep getting these delaying activities that seek to achieve a political ceasefire, where they will agree to spend some money and not attack each other for it.”

If you need proof that an inquiry won’t change anything, just look at the findings of the last Royal Commission on Care, which was ordered nearly 30 years ago by Tony Blair’s New Labour government:

“The costs of long-term care should be split between living costs, housing costs and personal care. Personal care should be available after assessment, according to need and paid for from general taxation: the rest should be subject to a co-payment according to means.”

What might have felt like an important milestone at the time is now no closer than it was in 1997.

It might seem like a good idea for the government to try and get a consensus on an issue of the magnitude of our social care emergency, but another commission will only put more Disabled people at risk.

With Age UK estimating that 2.6 million people over the age of 50 in England aren’t getting the support they need with day-to-day tasks – such as washing, dressing and taking their medication – we simply don't have any time to waste.

Yet when I wrote to the minister for social care’s office to ask about the apparent Royal Commission, all they could say was:

“This government is determined to grip the crisis in social care. We are committed to ensuring everyone lives an independent, dignified life, and we are determined to reform the sector to achieve this and take steps towards building a National Care Service.”

These are not exactly inspiring words that clarify the scale of the challenge ahead.

Instead, says Burgess, Disabled people “need courageous politicians with a vision to co-produce policy with us – and we saw the entire establishment react with revulsion to even a slight move towards that in the last decade”.

Care and support should be about enabling Disabled people to live with choice and control over our lives, connecting us with the communities around us. It should not be a list of ‘care tasks’, which gives us the absolute minimum to survive.

There are many solutions out there the government could reach for that would deliver this and put an end to the crisis.

First and foremost, ministers should end care charges and introduce an amnesty on care debt, which would support thousands of us. Councils in England chased more than 60,000 adults with disabilities and long-term illnesses over unpaid debts for their social care support in 2022, according to research by the BBC.

Ministers should then create a new care system underpinned by the principles of choice and control, nothing about us without us, and the right to independent living.

In doing so, the government must fund Disabled people’s organisations, so that we can provide support that enables equal participation in society across all areas of our lives, including access to work, housing, social security and financial advice and wide-ranging service and resource provision.

These are simple, straightforward steps which would change the system for all, and which we believe are crucial to recognising and addressing other forms of discrimination experienced by Disabled people, including racism, ageism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.