Providing care is a shareholder's dream - and that's what needs to change

Neal Lawson

Director of centre-left campaign organisation Compass

Care is the essence of life. We give and receive it from the day we were born to the moment we die. To be human is to care and be cared for. So how we care matters. It tells us what we think it means to be human.

Andy Burnham wants to find a long-term solution to this deep and abiding issue. It’s a tough ask.

Everyone agrees wholesale reform is needed. We are living longer and need looking after in our old age. There’s no avoiding it. The average lifespan for men has risen from 58 in 1950, to 79 now – for women it’s 83. The Prime Minister’s goal is to provide care that is free at the point of need, much like the NHS. This is rightly ambitious and much of the focus right now is on how we pay for it. But we should consider how we care, before we ask who’s writing the cheque.