Last Updated on September 6, 2022

Social care organisations are calling on Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, the new Prime Minister, to commit and take urgent action to deliver on adult social care.

Rt Hon Liz Truss MP became the new leader of the Conservative party yesterday, after winning 57% of members' votes against Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP.

Boris Johnson delivered his final speech on the steps of No 10 Downing Street this morning and in his last address as Prime Minister, Johnson said he is ‘like a booster rocket’ that has ‘fulfilled its function.’ There was very little mention of social care – just the words ‘we delivered on social care.’

The Independent Care Group (ICG) has sent an urgent letter to Liz Truss calling on her to take emergency measures to 'save' the social care sector, which has been 'battered' by COVID-19, a severe staffing shortage and now the cost-of-living crisis.

The ICG wants the new Prime Minister to:

• Include care and nursing homes in the price cap for energy prices.
• Grant people living in care settings utility bill rebates.
• Help domiciliary providers tackle huge fuel costs.
• Urgently move money from the Health and Social Care levy to support care and nursing homes and homecare providers.
• Carry out root and branch reform of social care for the 1.6m who can’t get care at the moment.
• Provide better pay and opportunities for care staff to tackle the current staffing crisis.
• Utilise the expertise available in the social care sector to tackle the crisis.

ICG Chair Mike Padgham said, 'We have sent a clear message to the Prime Minister-elect that social care has to be a top priority for her new Government. Others before her have promised and failed but tackling this crisis cannot wait and offers her an opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives straight away. We know that there will be many things in her in-tray, but we do appeal to her to tackle social care.'

Responding to the Rt Hon Liz Truss MP becoming PM, Kari Gerstheimer, CEO and Founder of Access Social Care said, ‘Liz Truss recently announced her plan to divert £13bn from NHS funding to finance local authority spending on social care. The sector can now only hope that she acts on these bold commitments without causing harm to an NHS already on the cusp of crisis. Access Social Care welcomes the recognition that, without a properly funded and adequately supported social care system, the capacity issues in hospitals and the health service will become yet more intolerable. However, the suggestion that we should divert vital financing from one service to pay for another seems deeply problematic.

In relation to collating tax to fund the Health and Social Care Levy, Gerstheimer added, ‘What I ask of Liz Truss is to take bold, necessary action to guarantee a sustained long-term funding plan for the adult social care system, ensuring that everyone has access to a fair cost of care, and local authorities have the financial capacity to cope with soaring demand in the face of a cost-of-living crisis. There is no doubt that the additional funding required is substantial, and I am concerned that, following the new PM’s vows to scrap the additional tax income collected through the Health and Social Care Levy, this will be another short-term sticking plaster without a long-term strategy.’

The National Care Forum has said that the current £5.4bn earmarked for social care is simply not enough to address the challenges facing the sector. The pressing challenge is an immediate solution to the energy crisis – with providers facing eye-watering increases in costs in excess of 400%, with many services considering their sustainability.

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of the NCF said, ‘The announcement of Liz Truss as Prime Minister comes at a time when multiple crises are facing the country due to the cost-of-living crisis amongst a myriad of other challenges. Her resounding assertion to be the leader that delivers will be immediately put to the test as it is vitally important for the most vulnerable people in our society who find themselves facing a catastrophe if action is not taken urgently.’

Professor Vic Rayner added, ‘We need her government to deliver on the care workforce and for an immediate need to increase the funding to adult social care to make sure it can offer staff the terms and conditions that recognise the vital, life-changing work they do. We cannot run the risk that they cannot afford to work in care. Care is the backbone of communities up and down the country and they are the lifeblood of its delivery.’

‘Never mind the next 100 days, the next 10 days will be pivotal, not only in her premiership but also for the many millions of people who work, use and operate adult social care across this country.’

The Homecare Association has written to the Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, to offer congratulations on her election as Prime Minister and is calling on the new PM to:

These include:

• Provide immediate emergency grant funding of £107m p.a. to help cover increased fuel costs incurred by careworkers in delivering homecare.
• Provide immediate financial support for homecare to manage the pressures of COVID-19 and influenza over the winter.
• Increase baseline funding for homecare by at least £1.7bn p.a., to support recruitment and retention of careworkers, by enabling payment of wages equivalent to NHS Band 3 Healthcare Assistants.
• Ensure her Government works with the sector to develop a credible 10-year workforce strategy for social care, aligned with the NHS People Plan.

Homecare Association CEO, Dr Jane Townson, said, ‘We need to shift the dial on demand and invest more in homecare and other community support to help prevent admission to more expensive settings of care, such as care homes and hospitals. Available homecare also enables people to return home from hospital safely when ready. This is better for individuals and less costly for integrated care systems.

‘We are concerned about the proposed removal of the National Insurance increase, as the Health and Social Care Levy was allocated to support the NHS and social care reform. The money will have to come from somewhere to avoid a complete meltdown in services, which are already in a parlous state. We call on the Prime Minister to prioritise additional funding for homecare to help build vital capacity for this winter and beyond.’

In other news, the autumn booster rollout begins today with England’s care home residents, staff and people who are housebound first in line to receive their top-up ahead of winter.