From Cradle to Grave: Why Britain Must Finish the Job with a National Care Service
Britain likes to think of itself as a fair country. A country that looks after its own, where no matter who you are or where you come from, you can rely on the basics of dignity and decency.
That belief rests, more than anything else, on the NHS. Born out of the wreckage of war by a Labour government, it made a simple promise: healthcare free at the point of need, from cradle to grave. No bills, no means tests, no fear that getting ill would ruin your life.
It was revolutionary and it worked. It became the most loved institution in our country. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: we only ever did half the job.
Because the moment your needs stop being “medical” and start being about care - when you’re disabled, struggling with mental health, supporting a child with additional needs, living with dementia or caring for an elderly parent - that promise collapses. Instead of security, you get a postcode lottery. Instead of dignity, you get stress, paperwork and eye-watering bills. Instead of support, you get told to “manage”.
That failure isn’t accidental. It’s the result of decades of political choices and families in my constituency of Redditch and the Villages are paying the price.
Every week, people come to my surgeries exhausted and frightened. Young people juggling full-time jobs while caring for parents. Parents of disabled children fighting a system that seems designed to say no. Widows watching lifetime savings disappear into care fees, simply because their illness isn’t treated on an NHS ward.
Someone can receive excellent NHS care after a stroke, only to be discharged into a social care system that cannot provide consistent support at home. Within weeks, they are back in hospital. More trauma for their family. More pressure on Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital. More cost to the taxpayer. This is what a broken system looks like.
Nationally, around 2 million people live without the care they need for a dignified life. Care workers - doing some of the hardest, most essential jobs in our society - are often paid less than the real Living Wage. Families are forced to sell homes to fund basic support and whether you get help depends less on need, than on where you live and what you earn.
This is also pushing local authorities to the brink. Child and adult social care now account for the majority of council spending, crowding out investment in everything else. Councils are legally obliged to meet needs but without stable funding they are forced into crisis management. A National Care Service would give local government certainty and stability - freeing councils to focus on delivery, not firefighting and ending the destructive cycle of short-term fixes and emergency bailouts.
I see this most starkly in SEND. In Worcestershire, families have repeatedly raised serious concerns about failures to meet statutory duties. That is why I have asked, in the House of Commons, for a debate on the effectiveness of powers to intervene where local authorities are failing children with special educational needs and disabilities and why I pressed the Education Secretary directly on what assessment her Department has made of those powers. Too many parents report being dismissed or gaslit while fighting for basic support for their children. That is unacceptable and it shows why a system built on fragmentation and rationing is no longer fit for purpose.
That’s why Labour’s commitment to a National Care Service matters so much. This isn’t just about adult social care at the end of life. It’s about finishing what 1945 started and building a system that supports working families at every stage of life.
A true cradle-to-grave approach means universal coverage: care available to everyone, regardless of income, background or postcode. It means a lifespan focus - maternity care, child health and early-years support so children get the best start in life; mental and physical health support through working life, including for disabled adults; and later on, reliable long-term care, dementia support, palliative and end-of-life care delivered with dignity and compassion.
It also means integration. Health and care working as one system, not two bureaucracies passing people between them.
When the NHS and social care are properly joined up, people don’t get stuck in hospital beds because support at home isn’t in place and families aren’t left to pick up the pieces.
National standards are crucial too. No more postcode lottery. The same quality of care whether you live in Redditch or anywhere else in the country. Public funding, free at the point of use, so no one faces catastrophic costs simply because they or a loved one needs care rather than treatment.
We have been here before. The Dilnot Commission in 2011 laid bare the injustice of a system that exposes families to unlimited care costs. Baroness Casey’s forthcoming Independent Commission on Adult Social Care will again map the path forward.
The analysis is clear. What has been missing is the political will to act.
Public trust will only come if people have a stake in the system - just as they do with the NHS. That means a National Care Service cannot be seen as a narrow safety net for “edge cases”. Its remit must be broad and universal, extending beyond adult social care and SEND to maternity services, child health, early years, mental and physical health support and childcare. Universality is what builds confidence, solidarity and consent.
Universal childcare, in particular, could be transformative. By making it easier for families to have children and stay in work, it can help lift productivity, support women’s employment and even improve the fertility rate - easing the long-term economic pressures of an ageing population. This is social policy that strengthens the economy, not weakens it.
That matters because Britain is ageing fast. By 2040, one in four people will be over 65 and the number aged over 85 will nearly double. If we do nothing, more working-age people will be forced out of jobs to care for relatives, growth will stall and NHS pressures will intensify. Done properly, care is not a cost - it is an investment.
Recent debates in Parliament underline the stakes. With the Assisted Dying Bill now having passed its third reading, palliative and end-of-life care have rightly come into sharper focus. Whatever people’s views on assisted dying, there is broad agreement on one thing: no one should face the end of life without proper support, pain relief and dignity. A National Care Service is essential to getting that right and it is, at heart, a deeply compassionate policy.
Some will say this is too ambitious - they always do. They said the same about the NHS. Others will claim the market can fix it. It has had decades to try and it has failed.
The truth is simple: a society that lets people face old age, disability or illness alone is a society that has given up on itself.
In 1945, Britain was poorer than it is today. Bombed out and exhausted. Yet we still found the courage to build something better, because our grandparents understood that security and dignity are not luxuries - they are the foundations of a decent country.
A National Care Service is the next chapter in that story. It says to every family in Redditch and beyond: you will not be abandoned. Your parents won’t lose everything. Your children will be supported. Your care won’t depend on luck.
From cradle to grave, Britain can do better. And as with the NHS, it will be Labour that makes it happen.
Chris Bloore is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament for Redditch since 2024, formerly a Worcestershire County Councillor and business leader, who has championed issues including children’s mental health, SEND reform, and community investment in Parliament.
