SOCIAL care reforms are doomed to failure if the money isn’t there to pay for them, MPs have warned.

The Commons’ health & social care committee issues a report today ahead of the launch of the Casey Commission, which the Labour government hopes will transform the sector.

Instead of focusing on the cost of change, the MPs’ report urges consideration of the costs of inaction, noting that this would include two million people aged 65 and over and 1.5 million working-age people not getting the care they require.

The committee also warned of “unknowable, and potentially life-changing” charges, including one in seven older people with care costs over £100,000.

The report adds that local authority budgets are “buckling under pressure,” forcing councils to allocate larger portions of budgets on adult social care to the detriment of other services. Meanwhile 1.5 million unpaid carers provide over 50 hours of care each week, with many forced to reduce their working hours or leave jobs to manage their responsibilities.

The report states: “The moral case for reform has never been stronger, but this must be accompanied by a robust financial case.

“Without this we fear that the reforms that come out of the Casey Commission will be doomed to failure, leaving everyone continuing to suffer under the current unsustainable system.”

Committee chairwoman Layla Moran said: “It might seem that reforms will be costly and difficult, but continuing with inaction will cost us all more.”

Care Minister Stephen Kinnock said that Labour inherited a social care system in crisis and that it has delivered a £3.7 billion funding boost to the sector but admitted that there is “much more to do.”

“That’s why we appointed Baroness Louise Casey to lead the independent commission working to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of adult social care, with her first report out next year,” he said.