Adult Social Care reform announcement response

Social care transforms the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, but it’s in crisis. The Government published an ambitious plan to reform adult social care in 2021. But some of the start-up funding is now being held back and reform looks like it will stall at a time when it’s needed more than ever.

“Adult social care reform in tatters” says ADASS in response to the Government announcement on Adult Social Care reform plan to 2025

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) welcomed the ambition and vision of the Government’s White Paper, People at the Heart of Care, published in December 2021. But ADASS also said it should be seen as a starting point and needed the funding and commitment to make it a reality. In this new plan, £600m has been held back from the £1.7bn of improvement programmes between now and 2025 that the Government committed to then.

Sarah McClinton, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said:

“This plan leaves the Government’s vision for reform in tatters. It ducks the hard decisions and kicks the can down the road again until after the next election. £600m is being held back from the £1.7bn of reform programmes the Government announced last year. But adult social care is in crisis, with staff vacancies at an all-time high and half a million people waiting for care and support. Now’s not the time to be holding funding back, it needs to reach people who need care and support as soon as possible.

“If the Government won’t commit fully to this first step towards the long-term fully funded plan we need, the crisis will only continue. That means many more people won’t get the quality care and support they need, forcing more family and friends to step in where they can, more people deteriorating and being admitted to hospital and further damage to the NHS and the economy.”

The gap between the care and support people need, and the funding available has been growing for decades. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services have been calling for a long-term, fully funded plan for England to turn around the crisis in adult social care and properly meet the needs of older and disabled people and carers in the future. In 2021, The Health Foundation estimated that meant at least another £7.6bn this year, and £9bn next year[1], and that was before cost increases because of inflation since then.

Instead, this new plan from the Government takes us backwards. A fund to invest in staff training and development has been halved from £500m to £250m. That will make it harder to turn around the social care staffing crisis, where vacancies are at a record high, pay and conditions poor and morale very low.

While we welcome the independent Older People’s Taskforce on Housing, a £300m fund for council to improve housing support for people who need care and support right now has gone. That means we won’t be able to support more people to live independently at home and prevent them from needing more costly care in the future.

Between now and the next election, reform will be restricted to using data more effectively to improve services and the programme of inspections the CQC begins in April to monitor the quality of social services. While these steps are important, they will not bring the transformation and long-term fully funded plan that adult social care desperately needs.”

Sarah McClinton, added:

“People working in care do an amazing job in a really challenging situation. I know they’ll continue to do their best, but without the funding and full backing of the Government to do it, the adult social care crisis will only continue, and many more people won’t get the quality care and support they need.”

[1] Health Foundation analysis of 2021 UK Government Spending Review