Burnham says people's care costs are 'huge' and he will put funding reforms to the public at next election

Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he will put a plan to provide free social care to the public at the next general election and is prepared to risk his political future to deliver reforms.He said nothing was off the table to pay for the reforms, and he is prepared to take unpopular choices and hike taxes to fund an NHS-style social care system.He told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: 'People are paying care charges now. They are spending tens of thousands of pounds from their savings, sometimes losing their homes.'That is what’s happening at the moment. So to suggest there isn’t a cost to people at this moment in time, there’s a huge cost.'Social care in England is as unfair as American healthcare, where the most vulnerable in society can lose everything, they can be wiped out, not just by the condition that they have, but wiped out financially.'There is currently a £23,250 floor for the assets and savings you need to hold before Government funding kicks in - see below for how the current system works.That amount would be over £35,600 now if it had been revised in line with inflation since 2010-11, according to charity and think-tank the King's Fund. At present, someone in England who needs to go into a care home has to spend their own money and deplete their assets down to £23,250 before they get help with care feesMr Burnham will set out the 'broad direction' of his social care plans in his Labour Party conference speech in Liverpool on Tuesday.Baroness Louise Casey is leading a review of social care and Mr Burnham is committed to cross-party talks to try to find a consensus.The Prime Minister is constrained by Labour’s current manifesto commitments not to hike income tax, VAT or national insurance for workers. His previous attempts to reform the system as health secretary which could have been funded by a levy on estates was condemned as a 'death tax' by opponents. Asked if a levy on estates was one option he was considering, he said: 'Nothing is off the table at this moment in time. Now that doesn’t mean that I’m going straight back to the proposal that I had in 2010.'In a sign that some tax rises would be required, Mr Burnham said Labour’s manifesto promises made it 'hard to do in this Parliament' so he would put his proposals to the public in the next election expected in 2029.A care service which, like the NHS, is free at the point of use could cost up to £18.5 billion a year in 2035/6, the Health Foundation think tank has estimated.Mr Burnham rejected that assessment and pointed out there would be savings to the NHS from people who no longer needed emergency treatment or a hospital bed because they had better social care provision.Shadow home secretary Chris Philp told the BBC that welfare should be cut to fund social care.He said: 'It looks like Andy Burnham is not prepared to make those difficult decisions, is not prepared to reduce the welfare budget that is totally out of control.'Instead, he’s going to reach for tax increases that will simply cause even more damage to our economy.'Reform’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: 'Andy Burnham refuses to rule out his universal death tax. He’s too weak to cut the benefits bill so he’s coming for your home instead.'Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: 'I really hope the PM is serious about fixing care, and he can show it by getting on with the cross-party talks we started in July. This can’t just be a series of No10 headlines with no real action.'I’ll do everything I can to put family carers at the heart of any solution.' Don't wait until Budget day. You need to start protecting yourself now I'm Simon Lambert, publisher of This Is Money, and you need to know that your pension, savings and property could soon be under attack. On October 28, Andy Burnham’s government will set out its Budget. We don't know what they will do, but we do know about tax raids already on the way. The best thing you can do is get prepared. So I've called on some of Britain’s leading financial experts to create my new six-week plan. I'll cut through the noise and take you step-by-step through everything you need to do to protect your money. Don’t wait. Click here and sign up to Protect Your Money now. Who pays for care now?At present, someone in England who needs to go into a care home has to spend their own money and deplete their assets down to £23,250 before they get help with care fees. This usually means people have to sell their home and use the money to pay for care, before getting any state assistance. If you need care in your own home, your assets must have dwindled to a level set by your local council, which cannot be lower than £23,250. However, the value of your home is excluded from this means test.The floor for assets before help from the state kicks in applies to England.Scotland offers free personal care, Wales runs a different means-tested system where people may have to pay up to £100 a week for non-residential care, and Northern Ireland has different rules again.You can get the NHS to pay for care based on health needs, but the assessments and red tape when applying for what is known as 'NHS continuing healthcare' are challenging.People do not have to sell their homes to pay for care if a spouse or certain other categories of people – relatives aged over 60 or under 18, for example – still live there. This is Money has guides to applying for NHS CHC and making an appeal if you are refused, written by expert James Urquhart-Burton, head of continuing healthcare claims at Winston Solicitors.Protect Your Money – sign-up to our six-week plan The Budget is coming – but are you prepared? Sign up to our six-week plan and Simon Lambert and his team of financial experts will reveal how to Protect Your Money. If you're a subscriber, it's completely FREE > Sign-up to Protect Your Money