The UK government has scrapped proposals to introduce legislation to restrict routine movement of care home staff during the pandemic after it launched a new £120m fund to boost the social care workforce.
Under its Adult Social Care Winter Plan, the government proposed ‘limitations on staff movement between care homes will be enforced through regulations focused on care home providers’.
The social care sector has said the prospect of regulatory enforcement was unhelpful at a time when it was stretched to breaking point.
“It was an ill-thought through policy proposal, which targeted low paid care workers and created high level of concerns that people would be required to choose between health and care settings at a time when their skills and expertise were desperately needed,” said National Care Forum (NCF) executive director Vic Rayner (pictured).
“It is very important that the government has listened to the care sector and rowed back from its previous recommendation to use Care Quality Commission regulation to prevent staff movement,” she added.
The NCF also welcomed the new £120m funding that is aimed to help local authorities boost staffing levels, a direct ask of the sector.
“The funds must be dispatched urgently to providers to address the immediate staff shortages. Funding is needed first and foremost to maximise the contribution of the existing workforce, enabling provider organisations to address immediate staff pressures,” said Rayner.
“For some providers this will mean paying existing staff to work additional hours, to overstaff services to cope with short notice absences, and to reward and support those who have been at the frontline of this pandemic, without relief, for the last ten months,” she added.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the funding will provide additional care staff where shortages arise, support administrative tasks so experienced and skilled staff can focus on providing care, and help existing staff to take on additional hours if they wish with overtime payments or by covering childcare costs.
