On Monday John McDonnell set out Labour’s new flagship policy on social care. A Labour government would provide free personal care for people over 65 who need help with washing, dressing and eating and would invest an extra £8bn into adult social care over the next few years. The shadow chancellor also pledged to end the use of zero-hours contracts for care workers, and ensure they are paid a real living wage, including for time they spend travelling.

As anyone who currently needs care or who has battled to get it for a loved one will know, this is the sort of policy that will transform lives. Governments have long neglected to find a long-term solution for social care in the context of an ageing population, and the crisis has spiralled during a decade of austerity. Since 2010, £7.7bn has been cut from adult social care budgets in England, leaving 1.4 million people without the care they need. This is affecting millions more as family carers (largely women) are forced to plug the gap left by the state. That the Conservative’s long-promised green paper on social care is still MIA is emblematic of how those relying on the system have been forgotten.

It’s a sign of how bad social care has become that large numbers of people don’t even have help with their basic needs

What is exciting about Labour’s plans is that personal care would become a universal entitlement, paid for through general taxation, in what is a clear rejection of the idea that the burden should be pushed on to individuals to foot the bill. The NHS’s founding principle of free healthcare at the point of need gives everyone peace of mind in times of ill health, no matter how rich or poor they are, and a “national care service” acknowledges that care should be just the same. This makes even more sense considering health and care are clearly linked.

The cost will be partially offset by savings for the NHS, which wastes a fortune providing beds for people who lack the social care to enable them to go home, and fixing injuries caused by trying to survive at home without a carer. Free personal care was introduced for over-65s in Scotland in 2002, and it reduced costly hospital admissions. The Institute for Public Policy Research calculates extending free personal care to England’s pensioners would save the NHS around £4.5bn a year.

While the headlines have been about free care for the over-65s, disability charities are concerned it will not extend to working-age people with learning and physical disabilities. But the aspiration is there: in the fine print Labour clearly states its ambition “to extend free personal care to all working-age adults”, and pledges to collect data on the level of unmet need for care among this group.

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Labour must ensure it challenges the myth that social care is needed only by the elderly. Politicians of all stripes tend to talk about the crisis as if it affects exclusively those in “later life”, while media reports are routinely accompanied by a stock image of grey hair. One of Boris Johnson’s first pledges as prime minister was to fix the social care system in order “to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve” – but there was no mention of younger people who need care. This despite the fact that working-age disabled people make up one-third of all care users in England, with many now made so impoverished by care charges that they are forced to choose between paying for carers and buying food.

We must also ensure the conversation doesn’t just stop at personal care. It’s a sign of how bad social care has become that large numbers of people don’t even have help with their basic needs. But life is about more than going to the toilet. Cultural prejudice around disability and old age, combined with budget cuts, mean it’s often assumed there is no need to provide support with careers or social activities for older people or disabled people. This is why so many disabled people are now housebound 24/7 or “put to bed” at 6pm by local authorities. A truly dignified social care system will mean support to get out of the house to see friends or see trees in the park.

Being cared for in our times of need is a basic human right. Labour’s ambitious plans are a vital start.

• Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist