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Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising “to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform”, with an independent commission due to begin work in April.
But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.
Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.
The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.
Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.
Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.
In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.
Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.
The government’s ultimate aim is “a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century”, said Streeting.
He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission “to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years”.
Baroness Casey – who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police – said she was pleased “to lead this vital work”.