A coalition of regional metro mayors has delivered a bold proposal to resolve the United Kingdom's long-standing adult social care crisis, calling for the establishment of a National Care Service founded on regional devolution.

Presenting the plan in Manchester, civic leaders argued that decades of centralized attempts to reform social care have failed to bridge the gap between acute NHS hospital trusts and underfunded municipal care homes. They advocated devolving combined health and care budgets directly to regional authorities.

A core pillar of the proposed reform is establishing a national career framework and statutory wage parity for care workers with equivalent NHS clinical support staff, aiming to stem catastrophic staff turnover.

"You cannot fix the National Health Service while the social care system is crumbling. They are two halves of the same public health compact."
— Metro Mayors Joint Statement on Health and Care Devolution

The Fiscal Funding Debate

The proposal has drawn praise from care provider associations but faces fiscal scrutiny in Whitehall, where Treasury officials note that nationalizing social care wage structures would require billions in permanent revenue commitments.