EXC: A new report from the Co-operative Party – Labour’s sister party, argues that the co-operative model should be part of the solution to Britain’s broken social care systemAndy Burnham has been urged to act on social care(Image: Getty Images)Andy Burnham has been urged to ban private companies making profit from social care.A new report from the Co-operative Party – Labour’s sister party, argues that the co-operative model – which reinvests profit rather than extracting it – should be part of the solution to Britain’s broken social care system.Social care co-operatives are usually owned by their staff, and the model means that any excess profit is reinvested in the business.It comes with 80% of the largest care home providers in the UK being owned or backed by private equity firms.Mr Burnham, who is expected to replace Keir Starmer as PM, now sits as a Co-operative Party MP and has previously expressed strong interest in reforming social care.Andy Burnham previously called for a national care service(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)The report highlights Be Caring, the largest employee-owned social care co-operative in the UK, which is calling for more providers to adopt the model.The focus on removing private profit mirrors a model set out in Wales, where laws were passed to ban private profit in children’s social care. Councils are currently spending £23.3billion a year on adult social care services.Co-operative Party General Secretary Joe Fortune said: “Private profiteering is poisoning our social care system at the expense of staff, patients and families.“The co-op model offers the opposite – social care businesses owned by the people who keep them going every day and profits reinvested in the care they deliver.“Social care needs radical reform, and the co-op model should be at the heart of it.”Mr Burnham’s desire to reform social care dates back to when he was a health minister under Tony Blair and later Health Secretary under Gordon Brown.When he was Health Secretary, he proposed the creation of a National Care Service in 2009, to ensure elderly or disabled people can access care that is free at the point of use like the NHS.In the lead up to the Makerfield by-election, he proposed bringing forward the publication of the Casey review into social care to 2026. It is currently due to finish in 2028.Earlier this week Baroness Louise Casey, who is leading the major review into adult social care in England, said her interim report later this year will suggest some “quite big” changes to the system.She also confirmed she had been in contact with would-be prime minister Mr Burnham, who has spoken recently on the potential for a care levy.
