The National Care Forum (NCF) has urged the government to take a “once in a generation” opportunity to undertake fundamental reform of social care to ensure it is fit for the future.
Ahead of the Queen’s speech on 11 May, the leading association of not-for-profit care providers has published a paper detailing what an ambitious plan for social care reform must include.
The paper sets out eight ambitions for reform of social care.
These include fundamental reform of the sector as a “priority and not just a recovery” from the pandemic by putting social care “at the heart of policy planning, to think Social Care First and design a social care system that is person-centred, fair and fit for the future”.
NCF called on the government to invest in the sector to ensure it has sustainable funding and contributes to economic recovery, and to develop a fully-funded ‘People Plan for Social Care’ that provides clear career progression, better values staff, invests in training, and introduces professionalisation and registration where appropriate.
The trade body also recommends a “fair price for all care needs” to be met by the state when commissioning care on behalf of people. This, said the NCF, would in turn enable providers to rebalance the prices paid by individuals who fund their own care and create a sustainable care offer for the future.
In addition, the NCF said reform plans must include the future-proofing of social care with specific measures to encourage innovation, digital transformation and new models of care.
Local integrated health and care systems must ensure meaningful partnerships between health and care if they are to meet the care and support needs of their local populations, it added.
“The government must take this opportunity to be ‘ambitious for social care’, a once in a generation chance to reform and invest in social care so it can continue to make a transformational difference to the lives of the millions who use it now and the millions more who will need it in the future, their families and carers and those who work in it,” said chief executive Vic Rayner (pictured).
“Social care helps millions of people to live their best lives – with the right focus, support and investment, this government can be the one that delivers for social care,” she added.
