Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced plans to reform the social care system in England, proposing a model based on the National Health Service that would be free at the point of use. The announcement came during his speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

Mr Burnham said a detailed plan for the new national care service would be published before the next general election. He acknowledged that funding the service would be challenging and might require breaking Labour's commitment to maintain the pensions triple lock.

The triple lock currently guarantees that the state pension rises each year by the highest of inflation, average earnings growth, or 2.5 percent. Mr Burnham proposes changing this from 2030 so that the pension would rise in line with inflation or 2.5 percent, but not automatically with earnings. Officials said the pension could still rise by more than the minimum in some years to maintain its value relative to earnings.

In response, First Minister John Swinney of Scotland criticized the move as repeating mistakes made by the previous Labour leader, Keir Starmer. Mr Swinney said that Scotland had provided free personal care for the elderly without cutting pensioner benefits. Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra said Mr Burnham was right to have honest conversations about difficult issues.

The proposed changes apply to England, but the News Letter editorial noted that Stormont must work to ensure Northern Ireland benefits on the same terms if and when the reforms are implemented. The editorial also mentioned Chancellor John Healey's announcement aimed at helping young people into work, quoting him as saying the best offer to a young person is a first job with training and a wage.

Mr Burnham said he accepted he may pay a political price for the pension change, but stated that someone had to go through the pain barrier to build the care service. He said the change would generate significant savings to fund the new service.