Andy Burnham’s Labour conference pledges on care, pensions and elections

Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his Labour conference speech in Liverpool on 29 September to propose a National Care Service, a change to state pension increases and a review of the UK’s voting system. The plans could affect older people needing care, pensioners and voters, but the service and electoral changes depend on decisions still to come.

An earlier NewsJaws report covered Burnham’s care and pension proposals. Further reporting on the speech sets out how he intends to link those plans and what he said about elections and the UK’s relationship with the EU.

How Burnham says the National Care Service would work

Burnham promised a National Care Service offering free personal care for older people according to need rather than ability to pay, Civil Service World reported. He said it would be introduced in phases in the next parliament, following recommendations from Louise Casey’s review of adult social care, which the publication said was expected next year. The speech was a commitment to build a service, not an announcement that one is operating now.

That review leaves important parts of the plan unresolved. The speech did not settle the service’s detailed eligibility rules, the capacity needed among care workers and providers, or its total cost. Civil Service World reported that the scope would grow as funding and capacity became available. The timetable and the number of people who could receive care in each phase therefore remain open questions.

What would change for state pensions

Burnham said Labour would leave the state pension triple lock in place during the current parliament and adjust it from April 2030. At present, the Guardian reported, the pension rises by the highest of earnings growth, inflation or 2.5%. Under the proposal it would rise by at least inflation or 2.5%, removing an automatic increase matching earnings whenever earnings grow faster than both.

The Guardian reported a further safeguard: officials said the pension would be kept at no less than 30% of average earnings. Civil Service World quoted Burnham saying its value relative to earnings would be protected over time. Those provisions qualify the proposed removal of the annual earnings measure; they do not mean pension payments would stop rising.

Officials estimated the adjustment could reduce state pension spending by about £15 billion a year by 2040, according to the Guardian. Civil Service World reported the Prime Minister’s Office forecast savings of £15 billion a year by the end of the 2030s, rising to £50 billion by 2050. These are projections for a future policy, not money already available to fund care.

Civil Service World reported a mixed assessment from Jonathan Cribb, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He welcomed removal of the current system’s ratchet effect and said pensions would still rise more sustainably. But he also said the reform would not, by itself, answer how universal social care would be funded. That leaves the government’s wider funding choices central to whether the care pledge can be delivered.

When could the voting system change

Burnham announced a national commission on electoral reform and said Labour’s next election manifesto would promise a change to the voting system, Civil Service World reported. The commission is expected to report before the next general election. Its recommendations, and the system Labour would then choose, are not yet known.

The Guardian reported that at least one more general election would take place under the existing system before any proposed change. It also reported that officials said Burnham wanted to retain the link between MPs and their constituencies, ruling out a purely proportional approach. A commission and a future manifesto commitment are steps toward a proposal; neither changes how votes are counted today.

What Burnham said about the EU and other services

Burnham said Brexit had done more harm than good and promised to present options for Britain’s long-term relationship with the EU around a summit later in 2026, according to both reports. That assessment of Brexit was his political claim. The Guardian said the speech did not identify a preferred option or set out a negotiated change with the EU.

Civil Service World separately reported that Burnham described four possible paths in a BBC interview: keeping the current relationship, rejoining the Customs Union, rejoining the Single Market or rejoining the EU. Those reported interview remarks provide more detail about the options under discussion than the conference speech itself. They do not establish which path the government will pursue.

The speech also covered public control of water, housing and energy. Civil Service World reported a proposed bill to remove limits on government ownership of shares in major English water companies, stronger council powers concerning empty homes and landlords who ignore improvement notices, and a new Great British Grid body within Great British Energy. Each was presented as a proposed measure requiring further work, rather than a completed change.