10 signatures reached
To: Prime Minister
Free Home Care
Stand with us and call on the Government to commit to a national policy of free home care at the point of need and support provision through co-operative models of social care.
Why is this important?
Our vision is for a National Care Service with free home care at its heart, placing social care on an equal footing with the NHS. We believe that home care should not be viewed simply as a private act of love performed by families, but as a collective responsibility that we all share.
Just as Aneurin Bevan drew inspiration for the NHS from a successful local model in his hometown of Tredegar — the Tredegar Medical Aid Society — we similarly look to the innovative free home care model established in Hammersmith & Fulham in 1991 by the late Iain Coleman MP, alongside Dame Sally Powell and Stephen Burke, as a guiding example for our vision of social care.
The outcomes in Hammersmith & Fulham speak for themselves: The latest figures show that 7.5 people per 1,000 receive home care — the highest rate of any London borough. ASCOF data indicates that the borough had the 4th lowest number of residents in care homes of all local authorities in 2024–2025. Discharge outcomes are particularly strong, with the borough consistently ranking highly for the number of individuals staying at home 91 days post-discharge — it ranked 5th nationally in 2023–24. Notably, home care is significantly more affordable than hospital beds or residential care options. In 2026–2027, only 16% of the borough’s £123 million adult social care budget was allocated to free home care, in stark contrast to the 33% spent on residential care, despite the relatively low number of people living in care homes.
Baroness Casey made the powerful observation that social care, unlike the NHS or the benefits system, has never had its own “creation moment” — no founding settlement, no defining national mission, and no equivalent of 1948.
Just as Aneurin Bevan drew inspiration for the NHS from a successful local model in his hometown of Tredegar — the Tredegar Medical Aid Society — we similarly look to the innovative free home care model established in Hammersmith & Fulham in 1991 by the late Iain Coleman MP, alongside Dame Sally Powell and Stephen Burke, as a guiding example for our vision of social care.
The outcomes in Hammersmith & Fulham speak for themselves: The latest figures show that 7.5 people per 1,000 receive home care — the highest rate of any London borough. ASCOF data indicates that the borough had the 4th lowest number of residents in care homes of all local authorities in 2024–2025. Discharge outcomes are particularly strong, with the borough consistently ranking highly for the number of individuals staying at home 91 days post-discharge — it ranked 5th nationally in 2023–24. Notably, home care is significantly more affordable than hospital beds or residential care options. In 2026–2027, only 16% of the borough’s £123 million adult social care budget was allocated to free home care, in stark contrast to the 33% spent on residential care, despite the relatively low number of people living in care homes.
Baroness Casey made the powerful observation that social care, unlike the NHS or the benefits system, has never had its own “creation moment” — no founding settlement, no defining national mission, and no equivalent of 1948.
At the same time, many people across the country are frustrated by the pace and scale of national change and are seeking bold yet pragmatic ideas to transform everyday life.
We believe that establishing a National Care Service with free home care at the point of need at its heart could create a modern Bevan-style legacy, delivering the transformational change in social care that people are seeking.
How it will be delivered
We intend to hand deliver the petition to the new Prime Minister at this year's Labour conference.
