Staffing reform fund for social care halved: What does it mean for those needing care?

Government plans to digitize social care and bolster the workforce were today undermined by news that it plans to withhold £600m from a £1.7bn reform package announced just over a year ago.

News that this included a halving of extra funding for staff to £250 million led to accusations of ‘betrayal’ and failure to address ‘poverty wages’ in the sector.

The “refreshed” plans will benefit people receiving care, staff and caregivers by accelerating discharges from hospitals and accelerating the use of technology, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

This update builds on commitments made at the end of 2021 to support career advancement in the sector and “ensuring those receiving care end up in the right place at the right time,” it said today.

The reduced extra funding for healthcare workers follows the government’s decision last autumn to postpone the launch of a lifetime spending cap until autumn 2025, the other side of the next election.

That plan would introduce an £86,000 cap on how much an individual has to spend on care – but based on some, not all, of their private contributions rather than the total cost – and raise the threshold to receive support from £23,250 to £100,000.

We look at what was announced today and what it means for people in need of care, their families and staff in the sector below.

What’s in the government’s ‘renewed’ plan for social care?

Projects funded by the Ministry of Health include:

– Advising on a workforce overhaul including hundreds of thousands of training places and a new qualification – backed by £250m, down from £500m

– Accelerated digitalisation, including of records – £100m, down from £150m

– Creation of a new unit to explore ‘creative solutions’ such as helping councils reduce waiting times for care assessments and share best practices – £35m

– Running a fund for councils to tap into for measures such as increasing social care provider rates and reducing waiting times – £1.4bn

– Providing minor adjustments people need to stay at home such as grab bars and ramps, repairs and safety and security checks – £102 million

– Increasing the Better Care Fund to help older people and people with complex needs live longer at home, and improve hospital discharge schemes – £8.1bn by 2023 and £8.7bn by 2024.

A previously announced £25 million to support unpaid carers and £300 million to integrate housing into local health and care strategies were not mentioned today.

The Department of Health denied that any announced funding for adult social care has been removed from the sector or reallocated to the NHS.

But it said up to £600 million has not yet been allocated as it considers how best to use it and focuses funding on measures with the most impact.

What does this mean for people in need of care, their families and staff?

Today’s news sparked a barrage of criticism, with a health think tank calling it “an ill-judged attack on a social care system already on the brink.”

“This multi-million pound cut of the funds intended to improve the system will be seen as a betrayal by those working in the sector and the millions of people left behind struggling to access the care they need said Natasha Curry, a policy expert at the Nuffield Trust.

“Halving the money to support overstretched social care staff is a particularly low blow amid a crisis in the cost of living and recruitment and retention hitting social care.

“It’s all very well to create a skills framework, but if employers don’t have the money to recognize improved skills with better pay, it will fail.”

Social care is “in crisis” and the government’s strong long-term vision to improve it is in tatters after today’s announcement, according to the Association of Directors of Social Services for Adults.

“It dodges the hard decisions and kicks the can back on the road until after the next election,” said the body’s president, Sarah McClinton.

“Adult social care is in crisis, with job openings at an all-time high and half a million people waiting for care and support.

‘Now is not the time to withhold money, it should reach the people who need care and support as quickly as possible. And these funds were meant to be a start.’

McClinton predicts more family and friends will have to step in where they can, and more people will deteriorate and require hospitalization, further damaging the NHS and the economy.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director of Age UK and co-chair of the Care & Support Alliance, says of the government’s plans published today: ‘If the wind is right, these announcements should pretty much push us to base camp for social care over the next few years. can bring. year.

But that’s hard to swallow when millions of elderly and disabled people, and their unpaid carers, needed something much bigger, bolder and more truly strategic to give them hope for the future.

“With much of the money originally promised for health care no longer available, our CSA members tell us that this is just the latest in a long line of disappointments in recent government social care performance.”

Abrahams signaled the prospect of many municipalities making further social care cuts this year, while the demand for social care continues to rise, making the outlook for older and disabled people in need of care and their unpaid carers quite bleak.

“While we have yet to see the details of the plan, we understand that it does not include a commitment to immediately give healthcare workers a raise,” she says.

“This is a major missed opportunity in our view as we will not really make social care fit for purpose until we have tackled the issue of poverty wages, making the job more competitive against roles in retail, hospitality and the NHS .’