Last Updated on July 14, 2022
The National Care Forum (NCF) is calling on the conservative leadership contenders to put social care at the very centre of their policy agendas and to reaffirm their commitment to its reform.
In a new message, delivered this week to leadership contenders, the NCF told leaders that ‘social care matters to us all.’
The entire sector has been watching the leadership race with increasing concern as those vying for the top position compete to show that they are willing to cut taxation, and in particular, the recent NI increase, better known as the health and social care levy. The levy is the proposed funding mechanism for this Government’s urgent social care reforms and yet there has been silence on how these reforms will be funded if the levy is cancelled.
The not-for-profit sector is calling for a greater share of the levy, not less, to allow the plans of reform to be met. The Government’s reform plans include a cap on care costs, a fair price for social care providers, the ability for those who fund their own care to pay at the local authority fair price for care rates (which is now planned to be phased in over 18 months from October 2023), and greater investment in the workforce and innovation. NCF members want to see a greater commitment from Government to enabling and funding better pay, terms and conditions for the workforce, alongside a dedicated workforce plan.
Professor Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of the NCF said, ‘Those responsible for the commissioning and delivery of care, alongside those receiving care and support need answers now.
‘We need a leader that commits to reform, commits to address the chronic underfunding and fragility of the sector and most of all commits to own this golden opportunity to co-design a social care system for the future that all can hold in the highest regard.
‘Social care is a public service and those who receive care and work in care expect a leader who sweats the hard stuff. The next Prime Minister would do well to remember that social care matters to us all.'
Visit the National Care Forum website to find out more information about the organisation's latest projects and news.
In other news, ARC England (Association for Real Change), the only membership organisation dedicated to supporting learning disability and autism service providers, is launching the ARC England Learning Disability Research Unit, a major new strategic research programme to provide more and better data for the sector.