Party pledges home help for 160,000 more elderly people as well as £350m for training

Labour would provide home help to 160,000 more older people to support them with tasks like dressing, bathing and preparing meals under new plans for overhauling social care, the party said.

Ahead of the local elections, Labour said it would increase the number of home care packages available, with at least 50,000 going to those with dementia.

The party set out its commitments to improving elderly care on Friday after promising at the 2017 general election to spend £8bn over the lifetime of a parliament on improving the lives of older people.

Barbara Keeley, the shadow minister for mental health, said: “This Tory government has shamefully abandoned older people and young adults with care needs.

“There is still no sign of their social care green paper which was promised over two years ago, and vulnerable older people have needlessly suffered as a result of the government’s failure.

“People with dementia are unfairly punished when it comes to paying for their care needs so Labour will correct this injustice in government.

“We want care staff to be properly paid and trained, so that they can provide the kind of compassionate care that they want to give.”

Its proposals also include £350m towards training to develop the social care workforce, raising the earnings threshold for carers’ allowance year on year in line with the national living wage and £350m per year to help people with autism and learning disabilities move back into the community from inappropriate inpatient units.

The announcement is one of a series of policy proposals released by Labour in the last week, including spending £1.3bn a year to reverse recent cuts to local bus services as a means of boosting communities and helping the environment.

Labour turned its attention to social care on Friday two years after the general election at which Theresa May announced a deeply unpopular policy to make people contribute more to their care costs out of the value of their home – which was dubbed a “dementia tax” by its critics.

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Its announcement comes as the Kings Fund thinktank warned that the social care system in England is at “crisis point”, with more people requesting care but fewer receiving it.

The study found a 2% rise in new requests for adult social care since 2015-16 but that fewer people are receiving care, with almost 13,000 fewer granted help over the same period.

Local council spending on social care has dropped in real terms and is now £700m below what it was in 2010-11.

Simon Bottery, senior fellow at the King’s Fund and lead author of the report, said: “This report shows that increasing need among working-age adults, an increasing older population and high levels of existing unmet need are combining to put immense pressure on our care and support system, now and for the future.

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“Yet there is little evidence that the government understands or is willing to act on these trends despite the impact on older and disabled people, their families and carers.

“The social care green paper, which still has no release date over two years after it was announced, is an opportunity to set out the fundamental reform we desperately need. But while the green paper is delayed, the government must focus on what it can do to support people now.

“Putting more money into the system in this autumn’s spending review would help people to get the help they need while longer-term reform takes effect.”