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The government has announced that funding for the social care workforce will be halved under updated plans designed to “put people at the heart of care”.
Plans to grow and retain the social care workforce will be backed by £250m of funding, just half of what the government initially promised in a white paper published in 2021.
The Nuffield Trust has described this funding cut as a “betrayal” to those working in the sector and the millions of people who will struggle to access the care they need as a result.
Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Policy Natasha Curry said: “Halving the money to support the stretched social care workforce is a particularly low blow amid a cost of living and recruitment and retention crisis affecting social care. It’s all very well to create a skills framework but if employers don’t have the cash to recognise improved skills with better wages, it will fall flat.
One in 10 social care posts vacant
The NHS Confederation has similarly criticised the funding cut, saying it will “undermine” the government’s vision to transform health and care services.
Dr Layla McCay director of policy at the NHS Confederation says the underlying issue facing health and care services is a lack of staff. Vacancies in the social care sector currently stand at 165,000, with around one in 10 posts vacant.
This is having a significant impact on the NHS’ ability to care for patients, with more than 13,000 patients stuck in hospital despite being medically fit to be discharged, due to a lack of social care beds.
Dr McCay says holding back money from the sector is “very obviously a step backwards” and questions how plans to digitise social care records and improve information sharing and productivity will benefit the sector without enough staff in place.
“With health and social care so intertwined, this move is not only a let-down to families, communities and patients needing care, but will also have a huge impact on the wider NHS. NHS Leaders will know that without a significant boost to the social care workforce, the governments investment in measures to improve hospital discharge, improve the flow of patients through the system and ultimately tackle the 7.2 million people on elective waiting lists hospital beds will stall,” she said.
Government urged to rethink its “short-sightedness”
Key members of the social care sector who support over 10,0000 working aged adults with learning disabilities or autism have now written to Helen Whately MP asking her to reconsider the funding allocation.
The letter reads: “Adult social care is in a financial crisis that is set to worsen and with staff vacancies at the heart of the issue, how could further cuts be the right choice at this time?
“The government has said it ‘focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves’ but it is hard to see how this is reflected in today’s announcement. After more than a decade of cuts we have a social care sector that is on a cliff edge, for many providers this could be the final push. The announcement today couldn’t be further from the ambitions within People at the Heart of Care.”
The CEOs of United Response, Certitude, Choice Support, Dimensions and Macintyre are now urging the government to “rethink this short-sightedness and renew the commitments made to the social care workforce so they are treated with the value and status that their dedication deserves.”