Labour was challenged this week to explain why the long-awaited care charging reforms have been scrapped, with life peer Baroness Gillian Merron giving an unusually comprehensive response.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) parliamentary under-secretary was grilled by Baron George Young of Cookham on Monday in Parliament.

The former Conservative chief whip asked the House of Lords: “Is [Merron] aware of the widespread dismay at the cancellation of the proposals for reform, due to come in next year, without anything being put in their place, particularly against the background of what Wes Streeting said during the campaign?”

Young’s accusation was in reference to the £86,000 cap on lifetime care costs, which the Conservatives had pledged to introduce in October this year while still in government.

Labour had planned to fulfil this plan, but rowed back from the idea when chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the “£20 billion black hole” in public finances she claimed to have unearthed.

In response to Young, Merron said: “The inherited commitment to implement the adult social care charging reforms, which would have been on course for next month, was undeliverable because the previous government did not guarantee the money to do that. It would have cost nearly £1 billion next year, rising to £4 billion by the end of the decade.

“There were many false dawns in respect of this long — and repeatedly — promised change.

“It is also the case that there was not adequate preparation to implement the charging reforms. Councils warned that they were impossible to deliver in full in the previously announced timeframe.

“With all that in mind, I am sorry to say that we, as the new government, had little alternative but to say that these were not funded or on course to be delivered. We will have to ensure that we offer a national care service, along with a new deal for care workers.

“We will continue to consult and listen to those with lived experience in order to get it right.”

Merron, as well as Labour’s Baroness Kay Andrews, went on to reiterate the still-in-play plans for a National Care Service, emphasising that reform of the care sector will not happen overnight.

Andrews said: “There is no quick fix. This is a hugely complex problem, and the fair pay agreement is a very important first step. I have great ambitions… for a coherent and systemic change in the aspirations that we hold for social care, as well as the practical delivery.”

Merron added: “The National Care Service, for example, is a 10-year vision, which will mean long-term reform of the sector, underpinned by national standards, making sure that locally delivered care will be of a high quality and consistent across the country.

“That is what people will want. We will continue to consult those with lived experience as well as engaging with workers, trade unions and the sector to make sure that we offer a new deal for care workers.”

She concluded: “I think it is very important that we make progress on the National Care Service in the short term, because we have to build the foundations by working with the sector and those with lived experience to develop those new national standards. It will be work in progress and I hope that noble lords will be patient but also press me about what progress we are making.”