The government has been accused today of giving social care the ‘bare minimum’ needed to prevent it from collapsing after cutting a reform injection in half.
In a white paper on adult social care reform published in December 2021, the government pledged to invest ‘at least’ £500 million in England over three years to ‘improve the way we support social care workers’ to transform.
However, the Department of Health said today the reforms, which will fund hundreds of thousands of training places and create a new care qualification, will cost just £250m.
Charities, trade unions and think tanks today reacted as an ‘insult’ to the sector, warning that the government was doing the ‘absolutely necessary’ to prevent the sector from collapsing.
But the government insists the reforms will give the health sector the “status it deserves” and “create a health care system that we can be proud of.”
The government has halved its funding to develop the social care workforce. At least £500 million was pledged for reform, but now it’s only £250 million
Some industry associations said the plans weren’t good enough, but Social Care Minister Helen Whately (pictured) said the proposed reforms would give social care ‘the status it deserves’
The 2021 White Paper People at the Heart of Care included plans to invest ‘at least £150 million’ in digitalisation across the sector.
The government said this figure is now £100m which will cover investment in digital social care records as £50m had already been spent.
The latest announcement made no mention of a previously announced £25 million to support unpaid carers or £300 million mentioned in the white paper to integrate housing into local health and care strategies.
Asked about this, the health ministry said support for unpaid carers will be set out “in due course”.
The government has insisted that no funding for the adult social care sector be removed or reallocated to the NHS.
It said up to £600 million mentioned in the white paper ‘has not yet been allocated’, but will be focused on measures that ‘have the most impact’ over the next two years.
It said social care staff are “at the heart” of its plans, but several organizations expressed doubts, accusing the government of betraying the sector.
The move comes as capacity in the industry is at an all-time low, with 165,000 vacancies due to recruitment and retention issues.
The crisis has been attributed in part to fueling delays in hospitals, with NHS data showing thousands of beds are occupied every day by patients who are medically able to leave because no suitable nursing accommodation or care is available for them in the community.
Sally Warren, policy director at the King’s Fund think tank, said the government appeared to be “silent” about its previous commitments to unpaid carers.
She said the revised plan was, at best, the “bare minimum needed” to prevent the industry from collapsing.
Ms Warren said it was ‘short-sighted for the government to backtrack on what was already minimal funding and limited efforts to reform and improve social care in areas such as housing, technology and workforce support’.
The Independent Care Group, which represents care providers in York and North Yorkshire, said it was no longer convinced by government commitments.
Chairman Mike Padgham described the government’s announcement as ‘another cruel and unfair cut in the funding we need to provide help and support to older and vulnerable people’.
He added: ‘We need every penny of funding and cannot afford to let around £250m disappear in one fell swoop.
“The government insists that all promised financing remains within the sector, but we no longer believe a word of it.”
Natasha Curry, deputy policy director at the Nuffield Trust, said the revised plans will be seen as a betrayal by those working in the sector and those in need of care.
She said the funding announcement was a “particularly low blow amid a cost of living and recruitment and retention crisis hitting social care.”
Ms Curry accused the government of “an attempt by smoke and mirrors to sow confusion by bundling these cuts alongside pre-announced funding of the fair cost of care and a better care fund”.
Jackie O’Sullivan, of Mencap, a learning disability charity, described the plan as “an affront to a sector that was once treated as a government priority.”
Unions also criticized the announcement, with the GMB calling for ‘good investments’ to keep workers in the sector ‘no more broken promises’.
Meanwhile, Unison said that by scrapping “those already inadequate plans (from 2021) the ministers have proven they have nothing but contempt for the sector.”
The government has defended its social care plan, saying the budget has not yet been fully allocated. Pictured: Social Care Minister Helen Whately speaking at the Care England conference in London on March 16
TUC Secretary-General Paul Nowak said: ‘The government promised to cast a protective ring around social care. But instead it rules a perfect storm.”
Speaking to broadcasters today, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said the announcement was ‘a betrayal by the government of the elderly and people with social care needs’, saying the Tories had ‘promised a lot and are now delivering next to nothing’.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said the elderly and disabled ‘will fall victim to the Conservatives’ decision to cut funding for recruiting health workers at a time of chronic labor shortages’.
However, Social Care Minister Helen Whately said the package is ‘aimed at recognizing care with the status it deserves’.
She said: ‘Care depends entirely on the people who provide it – that is more than a million care workers who work in care homes and facilities, and countless family members, friends and volunteers who act out of the goodness of their hearts.
‘That is why this reform package focuses on recognizing healthcare with the status it deserves, but also on better use of technology, the power of data and digital healthcare files and extra money for municipalities. be proud of.’
The government said its “renewed plan to strengthen adult social care staff” would accelerate hospital discharges and accelerate the use of technology in the sector over the next two years.
The Department of Health said it will launch a Housing for the Elderly Task Force in conjunction with the Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities “to decide how best to provide a wider range of suitable housing, depending on the support people need to have’.
It said £1.6bn will be allocated over the next two years to improve hospital discharge.