Summertime, 160 years ago. Abraham Lincoln, in a letter to then secretary of war Edwin Stanton, wrote: “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Those words could be applied to a plethora of current, global challenges – climate change, inequality, war in Europe – but it seems social care might well be an exception.
For decades, successive UK governments have failed to take responsibility for a growing social care crisis. This government must not continue that pattern. Yet, in a little over one month in office, the government has done and said little to suggest that social care under their watch will fare much better, a view reinforced by the deafening silence on social care in Sir Keir Starmer’s speech on 27 August. We urge the government to change course.
During the election campaign, Labour spoke about a national care service and supporting the social care workforce through their careers. But within a month in office, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced she would be scrapping the plan to cap social care charges for older people.
A day later, Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, announced the government would not be proceeding with the social care training and development fund, introduced by his Conservative predecessor, which had allocated almost £54m to support 37,000 social care workers gain the new level 2 adult social care certificate. Mr Kinnock did add that he would support the new career pathway within social care and that the level 2 certificate would remain, without any details on how it would be funded.
Such is the concern from the sector that Care England, the Homecare Association and National Care Forum respectively – along with 30 other leaders from social care – signed an unprecedented open letter to the secretary of state for health and social care registering concerns with government decisions on adult social care.
Candidly, we stated: “Warm words about the economic importance of adult social care and the commitment to identify a cross-party solution to this fundamental public service have rung hollow in light of decisions announced around funding and reform.”
On a recent Voices of Care podcast, from Newcross Healthcare – a channel dedicated to the voice of the health and social care sector – we posed the key question: “Why hasn’t social care been fixed some 25 years since the last royal commission and after so many white papers and green papers?” Speaking frankly, there is always a focus on the NHS. Politicians don’t understand the way the NHS is an interdependent system with social care. We transform lives and local economies.
The recent Skills for Care report (“The Size and Structure of the Adult Social Care Sector”, published on 18 July) showed that while social care vacancies had reduced, most of the change was due to increased contribution of international colleagues. The report also indicated that over the past two years the number of British nationals in the social care workforce has reduced by 70,000.
It projected a further 430,000 social care workers would be needed within the next decade. It will be vital for the UK to train its own workforce to meet these numbers and, to do that, the sector has to be one attractive to those who are or will become part of the wider labour market.
An important milestone in this regard was the publication of the adult social care workforce strategy by Skills for Care, also published on 18 July. With numerous recommendations, it is hoped that it will inform all stakeholders (especially government policy and funding) to attract, retain and support the career development of the social care workforce.
The government must change the rhetoric on social care from the cold calculus of cost, to one of its contributions to the economy.
The health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, has been clear he wants to get away from the begging bowl mentality and to see health and social care as part of the foundational economy to help the rest of the economy succeed. We contribute about £60bn to the economy, more than agriculture and utilities. It should be seen as an industrial sector in its own right.
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And it is also now long overdue to see social care as a partner to the NHS, deserving the parity of esteem that has long been denied it. It is now time for the government to “think social care first” across policy departments.
The government’s well-publicised review of the NHS will be severely undermined without proper funding, fair rates of pay and support for the workforce careers. The government continues to seek to display its adherence to fiscal prudence but while its manifesto commitments for the NHS remain in place, initiatives for social care have been discarded. Will we have to wait for tragedies and scandals for those receiving (or waiting to receive) care before meaningful action is taken?
Labour has sought to establish trust with the electorate based on a new social contract of equity and opportunity. The former demands social care receives the funding it needs so it can become a foundational part of the UK economy and it is there to support people when they need it the most.
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Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk