It’s time to fulfil the promise to ‘fix social care’

Care England, the largest and most diverse representative body for independent providers of adult social care, is calling on the new Prime Minister and her Cabinet to ensure that the Conservative manifesto promise to ‘fix social care’ is actualised under her leadership and that immediate Government support is made available for the care sector considering the current cost-of-living crisis.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:
“The adult social care sector is under extreme pressure. Long-standing workforce and funding issues have been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis, set to worsen in coming months. Care England has delivered a blueprint of immediate action to the new Government to start the re-stabilisation of the sector which current Government support packages have failed to do for energy, workforce, and funding. This is essential to prevent widespread market collapse and to help commence the journey towards a sustainable future for the sector given 45% of providers in the South East are considering exiting the market.”

Care England has written to the Prime Minister and her new Cabinet to detail the issues facing the adult social care sector and outline some immediate solutions that would help reprimand ongoing pressures. Care England calls on the new Prime Minister to implement the following key asks as soon as possible:

  • The introduction of a per-bed energy price cap equivalent to the proposed domestic energy price cap or the reimbursement of providers for the increased energy costs incurred by other means.
  • The extension of the £400 energy rebate to vulnerable people in care and supported housing, introducing parity in the way they are treated compared with those living in their own homes.
  • The removal of VAT and the Green Levy on energy bills.
  • Zero rate VAT with immediate effect to inject £350m directly to the frontline.
  • Directing a greater share of the money generated through the Health and Social Care Levy towards the adult social care sector.
  • Implement the recommendations of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee report and commit to addressing existing inequalities through increased funding to the adult social care sector.
  • To address the concerns raised in the Health and Social Care Committee’s recent reports at pace.
  • To commit to a long-term workforce strategy for adult social care which aligns pay and benefits with the NHS and local authority-run services.
  • To remove with immediate effect the charges made by the Home Office and for the full reimbursement of recruitment costs by providers for overseas recruitment.

Wider measures have also been suggested. On 30 August, Corin Dalby, founder and CEO of Box Power, urged ministers to ‘consider reducing the country’s voltage supplies as that could reduce the energy going through the system as well as shave significant amounts of money off people’s bills’. This has the potential to achieve a 5-7% saving in energy costs and represents a potential instant solution to current energy pressures.

Further, Care England reported that more control needs to be exerted over the National Grid and its unnecessary burning of coal when exporting electricity to France, which increased profits over the summer for National Grid and VAT to the Treasury, at the cost to the UK consumer who could have seen electricity bills reduced by up to 63% this summer instead.

Martin Green continues:
“It is time that the Conservative manifesto promise to ‘fix social care’ is taken seriously and finally actualised under this new leadership. Providers are still recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and against the backdrop of the cost-of-living-crisis, chronic underfunding, and the absence of a long-term workforce strategy, these will culminate to be the straw the breaks the camel’s back. Adult social care can only survive with the necessary support from central Government, without which it will face total collapse. We are continuing to find opportunities for the Government to take advantage of, yet little has been acted on. Change is needed, and it is needed now, to protect some of the most vulnerable members of society.”