Exclusive: Andy Burnham has tasked Louise Casey and John Healey with plugging a multi-billion pound hole in his social care plan, after aides warned it could be delayed until the end of the next decade The Treasury estimates that changes to the state pension outlined by Burnham will only raise around £5 billion a year by the end of the next parliament in 2034, according to people familiar with the matter That is well short of what’s needed to pay for a free-at-the-point-of-use personal care service. The £15b a year savings from scrapping the triple lock only arrive in 2040 Burnham has asked Casey and Healey to look at how to fill the funding gap until then. He’s ruled out tax rises and more borrowing Currently, there is no plan to pay for the care policy before 2040, government officials told Bloomberg. Without one, the implementation would have to be delayed to the late 2030s, they said Another problem is that Burnham will simultaneously have to raise tens of billions of pounds to meet Britain’s NATO obligations to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035 The IFS has said that in order to meet the commitment the UK will need to find an additional £25 billion each year by 2035 in today’s terms That leaves tens of billions of pounds of extra spending in the next parliament that will need to be funded Burnham suggested in an interview with @BethRigby on Wednesday that the care plan could be delayed or phased to make it affordable bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

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