The Government has been criticised for halving the funding promised for the social care workforce in England, with one charity branding the move an “insult” to the sector.
Ministers had pledged to invest “at least £500 million” over the next three years to address record staff vacancies and rising demand for social care services.
In a white paper on adult social care reform, published in 2021, the Government said that “dedicated investment in knowledge, skills, health and wellbeing and recruitment policies” would transform the sector into a “long-term career choice”.
But the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on Tuesday confirmed that plans for a “new care workforce pathway” would only receive £250m in funding.
A shortage of social care staff is among the reasons that hospitals have struggled to discharge medically fit patients into adult social care. Recent analysis by the King’s Fund estimated that delays in people leaving hospital in England could be costing an average of £395 per night, and suggested issues with social care and housing could be contributing to delayed discharges.
Jackie O’Sullivan, of learning disability charity Mencap, said the decrease in funding was “an insult to a sector that was once treated as a priority for Government”.
“Just over a year ago, the Social Care White Paper laid out the urgent reform needed to enable people to access the care and support they rely on. It has now been diluted beyond recognition.
“Faced with a deficit of 165,000 care workers, the Government has chosen to cut its plans to recognise and support this workforce.
“Without this workforce, nothing else is possible: no increase in quality of care can be achieved; no innovative ideas can be realised; and people with a learning disability who rely on social care will suffer.”
The King’s Fund said the measures were “a dim shadow of the widescale reform to adult social care that this Government came into office promising”, while Age UK described them as not being “remotely enough to transform social care”.
The white paper had also promised to invest “at least £150 million” in digitisation across the sector, but the DHSC said that figure was now £100 million as £50 million had already been spent.
Social care minister Helen Whately said the package “focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves”.
“Care depends completely on the people who do the caring – that’s over a million care staff working in care homes and agencies, and countless relatives, friends and volunteers, acting out of the kindness of their hearts,” she said.
A report published by Care England last month found that 42 per cent of providers had been forced to close down part of their organisation or hand contracts back to local authorities to cut costs.
Care England said that “low levels of pay for care staff is considered to be the biggest barrier to recruitment and retention”.
