Adult social care reform requires a ‘different and more challenging conversation with the country’, Baroness Louise Casey has told the Local Government Association's (LGA) annual conference.
The chair of the independent commission on adult social care argued that previous attempts at reform have either only changed parts of the system or pursued dramatic change without winning public backing.
Casey warned that without that consent, debate repeatedly narrows into caricature.
The Casey Commission is scheduled to produce its first recommendations this year, with a second report following in 2028 – although last month Casey told the Health and Social Care Committee she was open to expediting the process if required.
Signalling that she will propose ‘quite big’ changes, Casey told the conference the commission plans to consult hundreds of thousands of members of the public – particularly older people, who she said are too often overlooked, and younger people increasingly sceptical they'll get anything back from the state.