business | cover story
What now for social care? As the government gets back to something approaching normal following months of turmoil, Care England’s chief executive Professor Martin Green looks at what’s next for social care.
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fter months of political turmoil, we finally have a government that will offer a bit of stability and clarity about how they will support social care. The government has given clear commitments to austerity, which will mean cuts in public expenditure. It will be challenging for social care to make its case to the Treasury when there are so many other compelling cases that want extra money. I have heard that because Jeremy Hunt is now the chancellor, health and social care will get a more sympathetic hearing. I know that this is true, but we should not delude ourselves into believing that the chancellor can deliver everything, and while his previous roles give him a better understanding of health and social care, he has the difficult job of balancing the budget and ensuring that the enormous debt that was accrued during Covid-19 starts to be repaid. The economy is well positioned to take advantage of growth as the world comes out of this long-expected and deep recession. “Not only do we need to talk about the impact social care has on people’s lives, but we also need to put it in the context of the NHS and the broader economy. Just telling the world that we do wonderful work will not automatically deliver better
telling the world that we do wonderful work will not automatically deliver better funding. “The biggest problem that social care faces is the workforce challenge. Throughout the entire sector, the workforce position is critical, and Skills for Care recently reported that there were 165,000 vacancies”
What we need from the government is a clear and long-term funding policy. The local authorities have recently gone through a cost-of-care exercise, and this has clearly shown the enormous gap between the true cost of care and what local authorities are paying. It is disappointing that the DHSC is not putting this data into the public domain because this will need to form the basis of a realistic debate about what it costs to deliver high-quality care and where we are going to get the money required to have a sustainable and long-term future for our sector. The biggest problem that social care faces is the workforce challenge. Throughout the entire sector, the workforce position is critical, and Skills for Care recently reported that there were 165,000 vacancies. This is leading to huge problems for people
who currently receive services and acts as an enormous barrier to the millions of people with unmet needs. I have seen in recent months many care services that have reduced capacity for no other reason than they cannot find the staff to deliver the required care. Unless we get a comprehensive workforce strategy for social care which recognises that we need to move towards professional status and remuneration, we will constantly find ourselves competing with other sectors of the economy and not being able to offer the proper pay to recruit staff. There are now new structures in “The starting point for developing any technology must be that it provides better outcomes for those who use services. We must also be clear that it has to improve efficiency and outcomes.”
place, and integrated care systems need to engage the care sector early so we can be involved in finding solutions to enormous problems that affect local communities. Currently, most ICSs are dominated by the NHS, but they are tasked with delivering an integrated workforce strategy. This will only be achieved if they ask the social care sector to help craft the solution. The integration
funding.”
For this reason, we must make an extremely strong case to the Treasury, and we need it to be multifaceted. Not only do we need to talk about the impact social care has on people’s lives, but we also need to put it in the context of the NHS and the broader economy. Just 8 | DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023
Source: Skills for Care
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