Social care ‘impasse’ at top of government – so what next, asks Laura Kuenssberg

When the prime minister, Streeting and Reeves sit down to consider what to do about social care in a week or so, don’t expect a sudden revelation or a shiny new plan. One source told me – in a line worthy of the sitcom Yes Minister – that the trio might “decide to decide, decide to delay deciding, or… decide not to decide”.

But the pressure is building on them to make a call.

While the Conservatives promised then failed multiple times to follow through with big changes to the system, the newly emboldened Lib Dems put social care right at the centre of their successful election campaign.

It’s the party’s signature issue, and rarely a day goes by without them pursuing a political opportunity to press the case. The Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey, who will join me on tomorrow’s show, said that any investment in the NHS would be an “expensive failure” without social care reform.

“Ministers need to get a grip, and quickly,” he said. “The cross-party talks we’ve been campaigning for should start now, but there are urgent actions the government should take regardless,” such as a higher minimum wage for care workers.

And a spokesperson for the Conservatives said: “The Labour Party are piling on costs for social care providers and charities. The Local Government Association has warned that any extra funding will be consumed by the costs as a result of Labour’s budget.”

Few in government would deny that a solution for social care is long overdue. Few in government would deny that patients are being let down, and families are being left without the support they need. And few in government would deny that Sir Keir’s mission to sort out the NHS is hampered by a lack of action.

A source familiar with the dilemmas told me it “beggars belief” that minsters can talk about giving the NHS extra billions and promising reform without doing the same for social care.

Yet nobody wants to repeat previous governments’ pattern, where plans were drawn up, pitched to the public, then ditched (the Scottish Government has again shelved plans for its promised National Care Service).

This time, according to one of the sources, “we all have to go into it with our eyes open”.