PM Burnham names how he would pay for free care, not what it covers

The money has been named before the service

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has told Labour's annual conference how he would pay for a new, free-at-point-of-use national care service (opens in a new tab) in England. He would change the state pension triple lock and put the savings into care.

What he has not yet set out is what the service would cover, who would qualify or what it would cost. He has said where the money would come from before saying what it would pay for. Commissioners and policy makers have a funding route, but nothing yet to put a price on.

It also changes nothing today. The reform is a commitment for the next general election, which must be held by 2029, not a change to the current system. Councils still commission care under today's rules.

Burnham set out his vision for a universal social care service in England (opens in a new tab) a day before he said how it would be funded. He first floated the triple lock idea in a BBC interview with Laura Kuenssberg the previous Sunday.

Earnings would drop out of the yearly pension rise

The Carer reports that under the triple lock, the state pension rises each year by whichever is highest (opens in a new tab) of price inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5%.

Burnham told the conference he would change that formula to pay for care. As The Carer reports it, yearly rises would follow inflation or 2.5% (opens in a new tab), with pensions still keeping pace with earnings over the longer term and the money saved going into the new service.

In effect, part of what pensioners would have gained in high-earnings years would move into care. How much that raises, and whether it is enough, has not yet been set out.

Health and care bodies back the idea and press on the gaps

Health Foundation chief executive Jennifer Dixon called the pledge "a generational opportunity" (opens in a new tab) to reform social care. She warned that "difficult questions and trade-offs will follow" over how reform is funded and how the cost is shared.

Nuffield Trust deputy director of policy Natasha Curry said the speech left "important questions unanswered" (opens in a new tab) about who would benefit, what support would be included and how the new system would compare with the current one.

Sir Andrew Dilnot, who led the 2011 review of care funding, told the BBC the cost of an NHS-style social care system would be "very substantial" (opens in a new tab).

None of them disputes the idea. Each points to a different missing piece: the trade-offs, the people covered, the overall bill. Together they describe a funding mechanism that has arrived ahead of the policy it is meant to pay for.

Dementia UK's Andrew Pike said the plan could improve life for millions of people affected by dementia (opens in a new tab). He added that families are exhausted and reform needs to "start now".

A UK-wide pension paying for an English service

The state pension and its triple lock apply across the UK. The national care service Burnham described applies to England.

What the pension change would mean for people in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and for their own care systems, has not yet been set out. Pensioners in all three nations would share the change to the formula, with no word yet on what, if anything, would come back to care where they live.

A direction of travel, not a plan to price

Narrowing the triple lock is politically contentious, and its savings have not been shown against the cost Dilnot describes. Until eligibility, scope and cost are set out, providers and commissioners have nothing to model fees or capacity against.

The harder test comes next. Can a change to a UK-wide pension formula carry a free English care service that no one has yet defined?