Sadiq Khan should be given the power and funds to tackle the capital’s growing social care crisis, a leading think tank said today.
The influential Institute For Public Policy Research said Mr Khan and other mayors should be put in charge of chairing health and care management bodies and be given tax-raising powers, as in New York, that could include “sin taxes” on sugar, fats and cigarettes.
It said the post of Mayor was uniquely placed to bring councils and the NHS together to transform the hard-pressed care system.
Town hall chiefs in London have warned of a huge funding gap because a growing elderly population is putting pressure on struggling services.
The IPPR report said government plans to devolve powers over health amounted “more to delegation than devolution”.
Harry Quilter-Pinner, research fellow at IPPR, said: “The social care system in England is broken, and it won’t be fixed from a desk in Whitehall.
“By fully devolving budgets and powers to mayors, the public will know exactly where the buck stops on social care.”
Mr Khan said: “I’ve long argued that London needs greater control over services that will improve life in the city.”
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