Cut-price CareBnB is not the answer to Tory crisis

ON Wednesday in the House of Commons Tory Minister Jackie Doyle-Price told us that “austerity is the mother of invention”.

Now we have been given a terrifying view of what that might mean in practice.

People in need of social care in Essex could be forced to stay with strangers if there’s no room in care homes. Call it CareBnB. The Tories’ care crisis is now so

bad that private homeowners are being asked to help dig them out of it.

Social care is in crisis. The last year has seen record numbers of people stuck in hospital due to the lack of social care even when they are well enough to go home. Days lost because of a lack of social care have increased by more than a quarter in the past 12 months.

There is an urgent need for more social care but there are clear safety risks if the people are forced to accept this cut-price care. The Government needs to listen to what Parliament decided and match Labour’s commitment to fund care properly.