Long-term funding of adult social care

Care England, the largest and most diverse representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has today welcomed the publication of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee’s report ‘Long-term funding of adult social care.’

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:
“This report echoes the repeated calls of Care England that significantly more central funding is required immediately for adult social care to meet the widely reported immediate and longer-term financial pressures facing the sector. While this Government pledged to ‘fix’ social care, it is clear that in reality, this is far from having been achieved. Against a backdrop of increasing workforce pressures, inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis, the sector finds itself in a more precarious position than ever before. The recommendations of this report represent the latest in a raft of publications which demonstrates that without intervention, adult social care providers will not be able to meet the needs of society’s most vulnerable.”

The Committee’s report outlines that:

• The Government should extend the Infection Control Fund for as long as the public health situation requires it to advise care workers to self-isolate with Covid-19.
• The Government should allocate additional funding this year through the adult social care grant, to cover inflationary pressures and unmet care needs, and should announce this as soon as possible so that local authorities can plan how to cope best with the pressures they are facing.
• There is a large funding gap in adult social care that needs filling.
• The Government urgently needs to allocate more funding to adult social care in the order of several billion each year, at least £7 billion.
• Private care providers should be compensated for employer National Insurance Contributions to the Health and Social Care Levy.
• The Government currently has nothing more than a vision, with no roadmap, no timetable, no milestones, and no measures of success.
• The Government should publish a 10-year strategy for the adult social care workforce.
• The Government’s guidance for fair cost of care exercises should require councils and providers to move towards pay rates for care workers that align with the NHS and that reward more senior staff with meaningfully higher pay than entry-level workers.
• The Government should monitor the impact of adding care workers to the Shortage Occupation List on vacancies and be prepared to extend the visa period beyond 12 months, to lower the salary threshold, or both.

Martin Green continues:
“Immediate action is required to ensure adult social care providers can withstand the unexpected pressures caused by rising inflation, not accounted for in previous uplifts and budgeting. With Winter on the horizon, the situation will only become more challenging over the coming months.  The sector desperately needs Government support to navigate this precarious period, including the injection of funding recommended in today’s report. We would implore the incoming Prime Minister to meet the recommendations of this report within the first one-hundred days of their tenure.”