Andy Burnham met with residents following his speech a care home in north London.

Burnham met with residents at a care home following his speech

Burnham said he wanted to bring forward a review into adult social care

All the challenges facing social care have to be looked at “in the round”, the Prime Minister has said.

Speaking to reporters, Andy Burnham was asked which issues in the system, including quality of care and a low-paid workforce, he would prioritise.

He responded: “We look at them all in the round is what we do.

“Because I think one of the failures, again going back to what we got wrong in the past, has been just to look at one element of social care, often, how do we pay for it and how does it affect the individual?

“Those are important issues, but it’s not the whole story. You do have to look at the situation of staff trying to provide it, the pressure on the NHS that results -you have to look at it all in the round, because actually some of the financial solutions may come from doing things differently and unlocking the unproductive spending that we have in other parts of the system.”

Andy Burnham said he does not want people to have to sell their homes to pay for social care, as he said it was “horrendous” for people and their children.

Responding to a question after his speech at a care home in north London, Mr Burnham said: “In an ideal world I wouldn’t want anybody to have to sell their home to pay for care.

“I think it’s a really awful process for those who live through it, the whole thing of children taking power of attorney, and then dealing with parents’ finances. I think the whole thing is horrendous for those who live though it, and they see everything that their parents have worked for just whittled away in front of them, paying for care that often isn’t good enough care in terms of what you would want for your mum and dad.

“I think the system isn’t right, and in an ideal world, no I wouldn’t want to see that.”

The Prime Minister also called for a “clear-eyed” debate on the issue and said: “I do ask colleagues in the media again, can we not let the country look at this in a quite clear-eyed way without all of the hype and the overwriting of some of these issues?

“On this issue, I just ask it again, on this issue, can we please have a factual debate? Can we allow people to weigh up the different options that Louise (Casey) might put forward, and then just come to a considered view based on those facts?”

Andy Burnham said he would stick to Labour’s manifesto when asked about potential tax rises to fund changes to the social care system.

Asked about whether he would push for compulsory insurance for care as he had done in the past, he said: “Life has moved on from when I was first looking at social care in 2010. We are in a difficult world from a financial point of view.”

He added: “If I want to persuade others and get a cross-party consensus, you don’t just go in and say it’s got to be my way and that’s it. Because how how do you persuade people?

“I think there are kind of ways of looking at this that could include a more voluntary approach initially, or could include a road map to a reformed social care system.

On tax rises, he said: “To come back to the tax point, I will stick to the manifesto. That is important. There is a manifesto. There are commitments there on tax, and I will stick to those commitments.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has insisted his social care reforms will be “fully funded”, adding that the first thing will be to “do more with what we’ve got”, but admitting the full reforms will require “difficult decisions”.

Asked by ITV whether the Government can transform social care without raising taxes, he said: “I would start by saying this is a question of standards within organisations, and we’re in one today that meets the highest standards, but we also know that care is variable across different organisations.

“There’s good in all sectors, I said that at the start, but there’s profiteering in this sector as well, and there is unnecessary and dangerous cost cutting at times on the backs of vulnerable people, and that is fundamentally unacceptable.”

He added: “I think more is possible from within existing resources, and the things that I’ve talked about today, particularly around the workforce, will be fully funded…

“So I think, firstly, you have to do more with what you’ve got. But I think Louise (Casey) indicated some of what we would want to do in the fullest sense will require difficult, difficult decisions.

“But we will be honest with people about those. We will put them before the country at the right time, and we will hopefully proceed with people’s consent.”

Andy Burnham's stance on assisted dying in the UK is a break from the previous Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer has long signalled his support for introducing assisted dying in the UK.

Burnham said he wanted to improve palliative care in the UK before having a debate on the issue.

Baroness Casey said there has never been a national care system and that public must be involved.

"We need to involve the public in what they think care is...what they think is reasonable and what they need help with," she said.

She added public comments were vital to fix adult social care.

Andy Burnham has said Britain needs to fix the funding of social care and palliative care before it engages in a debate about legalising assisted dying.

Asked for his position on the debate, the Prime Minister said: “I take the view that that debate – and I don’t say that there shouldn’t be a debate at some point about those issues – personally, I think there’s something that needs to happen first.

“That is the fixing of the funding of palliative care and social care.

“I think it is very challenging to introduce that wider debate in a context of people not receiving that care and having the peace of mind about that care.

“That’s the way I kind of see this, and that’s the position that I will stick to.”

Andy Burnham said he did not want people to sell their own homes to fund social care costs.

"I think it's a really awful process," Burnham said of people who sell their homes to fund adult social care. "I think the whole thing is horrendous."

Andy Burnham said he would honour NATO commitments to invest more in defence.

The PM revealed money was tight in government but that he would honour NATO commitments to increase defence spending.

It comes amid questions over how social care reform will be funded.

Andy Burnham said there would be “difficult decisions” on tax as part of social care reform, but vowed to “be honest with people” and “do more” within existing resources first.

Andy Burnham(Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire)

Andy Burnham has said he wants the fixing of paliative care should be fixed first before a greater debate on assisted dying.

"I take the view that debate...personally I think the fixing of the funding of paliative care needs to happen first," Burnham said in response to a Sky News question on assisted dying.

PM Andy Burnham has launched his campaign to fix social care by setting three key aims:

1. Baroness Louise Casey has been asked to bring her social care review forward by a year
2. Social workers' pay and career progression will be reviewed
3. Launch cross-party talks with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to find some kind of consensus

Andy Burnham(Image: Sky News)

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said cross-party talks on social care were the “right thing to do” although he acknowledged he had the “scars” from previous attempts to change the system.

Speaking at a care home in London, he said: “The third announcement is to start right now initiating cross-party talks on social care.

“And yes, I have been here before, and yes, I do have some of the scars of that, but it’s the right thing to do.

“I stood on the steps of Downing Street just a few days ago, and I said I wanted to create a new way of doing politics in this country, more problem solving, less point scoring, and this is the first big test of that, and I mean what I say. We won’t fix this through politics as usual.”

He said parties would need to find “common ground” to get a “lasting solution” and that “that process starts today”.

He added: “Who knows how long I will be in this position? But as long as I am, I will do my best to find a solution, and I would never forgive myself if I left without having tried because of some of the headlines that will inevitably appear and some of the efforts that some people will make to create scare stories about the whole issue.”

Andy Burnham said adult social care practice was a "question of standards" after being pressed on tax rises.

He said changes could be met within current costs and that good practice was happening in some care providers today.

"Before we talk about tax rises we need to look the public in the eye and say are we doing everything we can do with what we've got?" Burnham added.

Andy Burnham batted down speculation a new election was on the horizon.

Answering a question from the BBC, Burnham said he wanted to bring forward Baroness Casey's review next year - far away from an election.

He added there was "no election on the horizon."

Andy Burnham said he wanted to create a “bigger reform” of social care wages, so that carers are paid more in line with NHS workers.

The Prime Minister said: “The second announcement is to immediately – and not wait for the review – focus on the social care workforce.

“We already have a situation where the Government has agreed a fair pay agreement for social care staff to come in financial year 2028-29, and that is a major step forward.

“And I pay tribute to Keir Starmer, the prime minister as was, when that was brought forward.

“That is a massive building block of a national care service, and what I’m going to ask the ministerial group led by Yvette (Cooper), Angela (Rayner), and John Healey joining too, will be to look at how we turn the fair pay agreement into a bigger reform to improve the social care workforce, to lift it up, to lift it closer to NHS standards.”

Mr Burnham also said he wanted to improve the “training and the wider support” for carers.

'Why am I going to do this? For my dad and millions like him up and down the country," Burnham said.

The PM said political point scoring has prevented major social care reform.

"I would never forgive myself if I had not tried" to fix adult social care.

He added stories of tax rises in the media did not show the true story about people who have lost their savings trying to pay for social care.

Burnham said he wanted to start cross-party social care talks later today.

He added: "The third announcent is to start right now initiating cross partt talks on social care.

"And yes I've been here before and I've got some of the scars of that, but it's the right thing to do.

"I stood on the steps of Downing Street just a few days ago and I said I wanted to do a new way of doing politics - more problems solving, less point scoring. I mean what I say.

"We won't fix this through politics as usual. We have to bring a different approach. I've invited both of the main parties to start those talks."

The Prime Minister said he did not want to wait for the review to "immidiately focus on the social care workforce."

He said the workforce needed to introduce fairer pay in social care.

"That is a major step forward," he said. "I pay tribute to Keir Starmer for whne that was brought forward.

"What I'm going to ask the minierstial group, led by Yvette and Angela , will be to look at how we turn the fair pay payment to integrate it more into the NHS workforce and to think about progression routes for young people."

Burnham said he wanted adult social care to be integrated with the health service as well as offering care at home rather in the hospital.

The PM mentioned he wanted further preventative care.

The PM said he has asked Baroness Casey to bring forward her independent review into adult social care by a year.

He said: "The first is to ask Baroness Casey to bring forward her review by a year.

"Working with Yvette and Angela we want to expedite that review.

"Ideally we want to do it even sooner, but we've got to be realistically. If we say, a year from now, we can rise to this challenge."

Yvette Cooper and Andy Burnham(Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool AP via)

Andy Burnham said the pressure staff aare dealing with in social care is "too great."

He said the current situation of vulnerable people ending up in hospital used to add to what was called "winter pressures" but that it had become a daily issue.

The Mirror's Assistant Political Editor Alexander Brown here....

Much like his address outside Downing Street, Andy Burnham is once again speaking without notes, a move that impressed many MPs, who said it allowed him to seem more natural and sincere.

This event is being framed as being to launch a "national conversation" about social care, an issue that Mr Burnham says has seen two million adults have unmet needs.

Understanding the personal is political, Mr Burnham references his own experiences, as he brands politicians failure to address the crisis as "shameful".

While this speech is light on policy, it's a statement on intent. The PM is saying he knows it is not good enough, and his Government will work at pace to change it.

Baroness Casey said the Big Conversation On Care will be a “gamechanger that tries to renegotiate the social contract”.

Speaking at a care home in London, she said: “Today, everyone, we are launching the Big Conversation On Care…

“What does care mean? Who should get it? What should you do as a family? How much could you do for yourself? And how do we get this right? And then when does the state step in?

“And more importantly, at some point for all the politicians, who pays? But actually, who pays is a personal thing. There are people out there right now in this country paying huge amounts of money towards their care, and we shouldn’t forget that.

“The Big Conversation is, I think, going to be the gamechanger that tries to renegotiate the social contract, I think is what people would say, with the public.”

Introducing Prime Minister Andy Burnham, she said he is “the son of a dad who has Alzheimer’s and is therefore completely cognisant of the difficulties and challenges in daily life”.

Andy Burnham said the "current situation is bad for everybody" for people accessing adult social care.

"It does break people," the Prime Minister added.

He said "hundreds of thousands of pounds can just disappear" when trying to pay for care.