Adult social care needs a multi-year funding plan and a stabilised adult social care workforce to support providers struggling to meet rising demand, ministers told.
The government must set out a multi-year funding plan and stabilise the adult social care workforce to support providers struggling to meet rising demand, according to a new Care England report.
The call comes after the The Power of Care report found that nearly two-thirds of survey respondents from across the sector said the system is not strong enough to meet current or future need.
The report highlights the importance of adult social care to the smooth running of society and its contribution to the economy and employment, but warns ministers’ drive to shift health and care services into neighbourhoods “will fail” if it is left on the “margins of policy thinking”.
In a foreword to the report, published today, Care England chief executive Professor Martin Green said social care must be “placed on a more stable and strategic footing” if reforms are to be successful.
This will be achieved via financial certainty, workforce reform and better coordination between the NHS, local authorities and central government, according to the report.
To achieve this in the short term, the report – written in partnership with communications agency PMLR – calls for a ‘clear multi-year funding trajectory and cost-reflective fee rates to stabilise provider finances,’ a funded Fair Pay Agreement to raise wages and improve retention, reduced regulation duplication, and national standards for integration, including discharge processes.
In the longer term it argues that a cross-government social care settlement and sustained investment in infrastructure is needed, warning that fragmented policymaking has held back reform.
Goodwill
Meanwhile survey findings published in the report based on 177 responses and 17 in-depth interviews from across the sector, including staff, people who receive care and families, detail how chronic financial uncertainty limits providers’ ability to invest in staffing and services.
“Good care costs money” warned one respondent, while another flagged the system is “reliant on goodwill… that will run out one day”.
The report also details how the sector achieves better outcomes for people, with one describing that support “gives me the confidence… to continue my day”.
However, others described the impact of fragmented services, with one reporting being left with 11 days of no support following hospital discharge, due to individual care providers not communicating – a common problem that forces families to coordinate care themselves, according to the report.
Care England argues failures are not inevitable, pointing to examples of effective, joined-up care that demonstrate how coordinated support can restore independence and enable people to work, socialise and live fully.
The report calls on ministers to recognise the sector as “essential national infrastructure”, underpinning the NHS, the labour market and stability family life.
“It is also an economic powerhouse with the means to boost local communities and the nation as a whole,” added Professor Green.
