Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that there will be a cap on what people are expected to pay for their care and has also promised to find a way to help local authorities fund care and a 10 year joint NHS and social care workforce strategy.
He has also promised to tackle the unfairness of current care funding, which at the moment sees people with dementia having to pay for all of their care while people with other conditions do not.
The Independent Care Group, which represents social care providers, welcomed Mr Hunt’s announcements as “positive moves forward” but urged him to move more quickly.
“There is much in what the Secretary of State said that is to be welcomed,” says group chair, Mike Padgham. “Mr Hunt has acknowledged that things aren’t working at the moment and set out some admirable key principles for reform in the future. In particular, I welcome integrating NHS and social care and a promise to value the workforce more.
The devil will always be in the detail of course and we wait to see what level the cap is set at, what proposals there are for supporting local authorities and how the overall funding of social care is to be reformed.
“The key thing will be whether reforms are actually delivered. Social care has seen more than a dozen reports, commissions, reviews, white and green papers in the last 15 years and we want to see things come to fruition rather than be kicked into the long grass again.
“Our overriding priority has to be getting more money into the sector as a matter of urgency and that is where the announcements fell down. We are still chained to the Government’s timetable of a green paper this summer, which will at that point contain proposals which will then have to be consulted upon and so it will go on.
“We know there are more than 1.2m people currently living without the care they need, a number that is growing daily, and care homes and homecare agencies struggling to survive. I’m not sure social care can wait for the current Government timetable, we need action now.”
Lord Porter, chairman of the Local Government Association, says: “We are pleased to see the Government’s latest detail on how it intends to make adult social care fit for the future, which is one of our most pressing public priorities.
“The ‘seven pillars’ of the green paper reflect what we have long called for. However, government should resist the temptation for major system reform.
“Councils know what good looks like and, in the Care Act, the sector has legislation that enjoys widespread support and sets out a vision we all aspire to – particularly the emphasis on prevention to help reduce or delay people developing care and support needs. What is missing is the funding to turn that vision into reality.
“While integration is an essential agenda that local government is committed to in order to achieve better health and wellbeing outcomes for people, appropriate funding must be the overriding priority for the green paper and we hope its broad scope will not detract from this focus.
“Government should first make a down-payment on the green paper by injecting additional resources into the system to fund immediate funding pressures which are set to exceed £2 billion by 2020. This will enable the system to stay afloat until such time as the green paper reforms bring in new resources.”
Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, states: “NCF welcomes the ambition and intent contained in the speech by Jeremy Hunt. It is crucially important that he has recognised that doing nothing is not an option. The Care Act 2014 provides the legislative platform to deliver the seven principles outlined, but at present, the question remains when.
"We were pleased to hear the recognition of the core contribution of the social care workforce, and look forward to contributing to thinking on a joint workforce strategy. It is imperative any future strategy must demonstrate sustained understanding of the complexity of care and the high levels of skills and experience demonstrated every day by staff working in social care.
She continues: "Of course, it is vital that future funding solutions are found. The principles outlined by which this should be judged are sound, however, over a sustained period, the sector has heard and engaged with multiple attempts to bring this to bear fruit. It is imperative for everyone using services today, and who will need them in the future that these fine principles gain traction – fast."
