UK government accused of ‘delay and drift’ over adult social care talks

Wes Streeting said in January that older people could be left without help and the NHS overwhelmed unless a consensus could be reached on fixing the system. Photograph: Who Am I/Alamy

The government has been accused of “delay and drift” after it emerged crucial cross-party talks aimed at building political consensus for large-scale changes to adult social care have failed to get off the ground.

The Liberal Democrats said not a single all-party meeting on the issue had taken place in the four months since the government announced ambitious plans to build a national care service to fix the UK’s growing social care crisis.