Failing private care homes will be taken into public ownership under a Labour government, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to promise.
In a speech to the Fabian Society in central London on Saturday morning, the Labour leader will say that 380 care home businesses have been declared insolvent since 2010 – and that the social care system is at “serious risk of breakdown” unless more money is invested.
“That’s because the amount councils pay towards fees for residents is falling while costs are increasing,” he will add.
“So we warn Theresa May today; if you don’t put the money into social care now, the system is at serious risk of breakdown.
“Last year, the Care Quality Commission found that one in five nursing homes did not have enough staff on duty to ensure people received good, safe care. It’s an outrage.
“So a Labour Government would give social care the funding it needs and give a firm commitment to take failed private care homes into public ownership to maintain social care protection. It’s the least we can do to guarantee dignity for people who’ve given so much to our country.”
On the health service, Mr Corbyn will say that while the rich have benefited from “tax break after tax break” under Ms May’s administration, “they couldn’t find a penny for the NHS or social care” in the Autumn Statement last year.
He will add: “The thousands waiting more than four hours at A&E and the million elderly people not getting the social care they need, and the young people with mental health problems who don’t get the help and care they need.
“We will provide a long-term funding solution to our most precious national treasure, our NHS.
“I don’t keep talking about the NHS because it’s in Labour’s comfort zone. I talk about the National Health Service because it’s in a danger zone.”
On Friday the Labour leader was forced to dismiss the suggestion that he had “lost control” of the party after a second MP resigned in a matter of weeks. Tristram Hunt, the former Shadow Education Secretary, quit the party to take up the role of director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
