The Government has been accused of halving the money that it allocated back in 2021 for social care
Then,ministers pledged to invest “at least £500m over the next three years to begin to transform the way we support the social care workforce”.
Today the Department of Health and Social Care said that plans for a “new care workforce pathway” as well as “hundreds of thousands of training places” will be backed by £250m in funding.
Social care minister Helen Whately said the package announced on Tuesday “focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves”.
She said the reforms focused on the “better use of technology, the power of data and digital care records, and extra funding for councils – aiming to make a care system we can be proud of”.
The Department for Health and Social Care insists that all the promised money will stay within social care and that it has yet to allocate the full budget.
Labour’s Liz Kendal said that todays announcement of yet another broken promise on social care reform is idiotic but unsurprising.
“Thirteen years of failure, leaving older & disabled people without the support they need & an NHS full of people who don’t need to be there.”
UNISON head of social care Gavin Edwards said today :
“The investment announced in 2021 was nowhere near enough to address the deep crisis in social care.
“It didn’t deal with the poverty wages and absence of sick pay rife in social care. By slashing those already inadequate plans, ministers have proved they have nothing but disregard for the sector.
“With no national standards for pay and conditions, care workers will continue to quit en masse leaving thousands of vulnerable people without vital support.
“Those in need of care and those who deliver it need and deserve a lot better.”
“This is a significant watering down of promises, which even as they stood would only have taken us on the first steps towards a more sustainable and refocused future for social care. People who draw on care and support will understandably feel frustrated and concerned by these developments.” says Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing
