Warren Belcher

My new blog …Whilst Burnham Opens the #SocialCare Door, the Day Centre One Is Closing… #Lab26 #LabourConference26 👇 ermate.wordpress.com/2026/09…

My new blog …Whilst Burnham Opens the Social Care Door, the Day Centre One Is Closing… #Lab26 #LabourConference26 👇 ermate.wordpress.com/2026/09…

Andy Burnham @andyburnham and the #caseyreview have plans for #socialcare. They will fail if we still think it is just washing, tablets and hospital transfers. My new blog 👇 #BBCLauraK ermate.wordpress.com/2026/09…

What’s needed now is accountability, some actual learning and a very clear apology. What worries me most is how little listening took place and how flawed the modelling has been from the start. It’s turned into an expensive, undemocratic mess, with politics that feel far too murky for comfort. LGR has shown just how completely misaligned central government is from the communities and citizens it’s supposed to serve. When ideology is allowed to trump evidence informed data, things go wrong fast. The fact that the justified evidence behind these decisions hasn’t been shared is, frankly, sinister at worst and amateurish at best. Even if the LGA can’t reach consensus on its own statements, I hope there’s at least agreement on something equally concerning, the so‑called “fair funding review” is anything but fair. It’s stripping local authorities like mine of millions and millions of pounds, with catastrophic consequences, especially for social care. And I’m not convinced it’s even lawful either. Maybe that’s the next injustice that needs serious focus?

Reform’s welfare plan risk collapse the moment we acknowledge one basic fact, which is working‑age disabled adults already pay for their own social care in many instances. People with learning disabilities, autism, cancers, strokes, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, acquired brain injuries, Huntington’s disease, cerebral palsy, pre‑ataxia, Ehlers‑Danlos syndrome, motor neurone disease, Fragile X syndrome and other complex neurological conditions rely on social care every day and that care is not free. Councils means test it and charge weekly contributions directly from benefit income: PIP Daily Living, Universal Credit standard allowance, the UC health element, ESA, wages and savings are all counted, while PIP Mobility is rightly ring‑fenced. So when Reform talks about “dependency,” they ignore that disabled people are already paying hundreds of pounds a month just to wash, dress, eat, take medication, access the community and stay safe. The public are fed about the purchase of cigarettes, flat screen TVs and holidays while the real costs are incontinence pads, mobility aids, receiving care and support workers, sensory equipment and higher bills. Reform’s plan to abolish PIP for most working‑age adults and remove the UC health element would rip out the very income local councils use to partly fund social care, destabilise services and push disabled people into deeper poverty and greater risk. Disabled people aren’t gaming the system, they are being charged for survival while politicians turn their lives into culture war talking points. Where Reform want to talk about welfare, they should start by acknowledging the reality of this social care charging and the people already paying for the support they need to live. I am not suggesting change is not required, but it must be informed by sophisticated research, include disabled people themselves and where anyone is found to be fraudulent, steps taken. Eligibility will always have a line in the sand, but my only ask is that before policy cuts are announced, we truly understand the lives of people and remember the human cost as well as the economic cost of decisions. Many disabled people simply wish to have access to real, messy and ordinary lives.