Key Takeaways
- • Labour (Co-op) MP Jack Abbott argues in a PoliticsHome/The House opinion piece that private equity ownership should be removed from social care and co-operatives placed "at the heart" of the planned National Care Service.
- • Abbott cites a claim that around 80 per cent of the UK's largest care home providers are owned or backed by private equity firms, which he links to excessive profit extraction and cost-cutting.
- • Abbott says he asked the Prime Minister in the Commons whether co-operative values and models should be central to the new National Care Service, and that the PM confirmed he shares those beliefs.
- • The article frames the proposal as a shift from treating care as a commodity to treating it as a social good, with democratic ownership by members rather than private shareholders.
Summary
Writing in The House, Labour (Co-op) MP for Ipswich Jack Abbott calls for private equity to be removed from adult social care and for co-operative and not-for-profit models to sit at the centre of the new National Care Service. The piece, published on PoliticsHome, follows the Prime Minister's tribute to his late father and his case for social care reform at Labour Party Conference the previous month. Abbott draws on his own family's experience, describing grandparents who are former teachers forced to draw down savings and pensions to fund care.
Abbott argues that the sector is structurally broken because profit is placed ahead of people, pointing to record numbers of people going without support, lengthy assessment waits, high charges and unsuitable placements. He states that around 80 per cent of the UK's largest care home providers are owned or backed by private equity firms, which he says has driven excessive profit extraction and cost-cutting. He contends that incremental funding and reform will not resolve these structural problems.
As the alternative, Abbott proposes co-operative social care, in which services are democratically owned and controlled by their members rather than private shareholders. He asserts that carers are paid for their full shift rather than contact hours, that frontline experience feeds into organisational decisions, and that co-operative care outperforms the private sector on quality. He says these claims are his own characterisation of the model rather than independently verified findings.
Abbott says he raised the issue in the Commons, asking the Prime Minister whether co-operative values should be central to the new National Care Service. According to Abbott, the PM confirmed he shares those beliefs and that a different approach to delivering care may be on the horizon. The article is an opinion piece by a backbench MP and does not set out formal government policy, costings or legislative detail.
Publisher-linked material on the same theme includes a Co-operative Party statement that Andy Burnham confirmed co-operative principles will be at the heart of the new National Care Service, and a Centre for Local Economic Strategies report calling on councils to redirect care spending from large outsourcers to mutuals.
Abbott argues that the sector is structurally broken because profit is placed ahead of people, pointing to record numbers of people going without support, lengthy assessment waits, high charges and unsuitable placements. He states that around 80 per cent of the UK's largest care home providers are owned or backed by private equity firms, which he says has driven excessive profit extraction and cost-cutting. He contends that incremental funding and reform will not resolve these structural problems.
As the alternative, Abbott proposes co-operative social care, in which services are democratically owned and controlled by their members rather than private shareholders. He asserts that carers are paid for their full shift rather than contact hours, that frontline experience feeds into organisational decisions, and that co-operative care outperforms the private sector on quality. He says these claims are his own characterisation of the model rather than independently verified findings.
Abbott says he raised the issue in the Commons, asking the Prime Minister whether co-operative values should be central to the new National Care Service. According to Abbott, the PM confirmed he shares those beliefs and that a different approach to delivering care may be on the horizon. The article is an opinion piece by a backbench MP and does not set out formal government policy, costings or legislative detail.
Publisher-linked material on the same theme includes a Co-operative Party statement that Andy Burnham confirmed co-operative principles will be at the heart of the new National Care Service, and a Centre for Local Economic Strategies report calling on councils to redirect care spending from large outsourcers to mutuals.
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