The first round of cross-party talks on social care in England have been postponed, News has learned.
The meeting was due to take place on Wednesday but those due to attend were emailed on Monday evening to say it was off and would be rescheduled.
Government sources have pointed to the difficulty of arranging a meeting at which representatives of five different parties can agree to attend at the same time.
Conservative sources suggested those being invited ought to have been given more notice about the date and a clearer agenda of what would be talked about in the meeting.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting had promised the talks would begin this month and all of the main opposition parties have insisted they want to take part.
The Tories, Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party had been invited by the Department of Health and Social Care to join a discussion later this week involving Baroness Louise Casey.
The baroness – who previously led a landmark review of the Metropolitan Police – will chair the independent commission, which is expected to begin work in April.
The government has said that the commission would make “clear recommendations” for how to rebuild the adult social care system in a way that could achieve cross-party and national support.
But critics have previously said the timescale set out by the government lacks sufficient urgency.
The commission’s work will be split into two phases, with the first due to report back in mid-2026 on critical issues in the system and with some medium-term improvements.
However, the second phase – on the broader issues of organising care services and their long-term funding – will not report back until 2028.
Last month, Sarah Woolnough – chief executive of health think-tank The King’s Fund – told Radio 4’s Today programme that timescale “feels far too long”.
She urged the government to look at measures that could be implemented sooner.
Streeting has previously said the government’s aim is to set up a “National Care Service” that is capable of catering for an ageing population for decades to come.
He said the government would “finally grasp the nettle on social care reform” but that it “would take time” to devise a model fit for the future.
Social care covers a broad range of services for people who are older or living with a physical or mental illness.
The King’s Fund estimates local authorities in England spent £28.4bn on social care in 2022/23.
It also reported 818,000 people received publicly funded long-term social care in 2021/22, with a further 224,000 people receiving short-term care.
Meanwhile, campaigners who say the government’s changes to national insurance contributions for employers will damage the social care sector were due to hold a demonstration in Westminster on Tuesday.
They say the tax policy – which will see employer contributions increase by 1.2 percentage points and the threshold where levy kicks in slashed by £4,100 from April – will leave social care providers “facing a struggle to survive this spring”.
The government has said the changes raise £26bn a year and point towards a £3.7bn “funding boost” for the sector.
