The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced ‘record funding’ to help local authorities in England offer a fairer cost of care to providers.
A total of £1.4 billion will be made available to help increase the fee rates local authorities pay to care providers.
"The £1.4 billion Market Sustainability and Fair Cost of Care fund is over three years and part of the £5.4 billion Health and Social Care Levy...which will also, through charging reform, protect people from unpredictable care costs and move to a position where people who fund their own care to access the same fee rates for care in care homes that local authorities pay,” said DHSC.
Further funding of more than £1 billion will be available for local authorities in 2022/23 specfically to fund social care. DHSC said this will help councils respond effectively to rising demand and cost pressures.
“It is vital we continue to do all we can to protect social care during the pandemic and it is more important than ever the sector takes advantage of its priority booster status since the emergence of the Omicron variant,” said DHSC Secretary Sajid Javid.
“At the same time we need to plan for the longer term - and this money and the details confirmed will help do that,” he added.
In a related development, DHSC said a workforce survey, published on 17 December, has confirmed that staff shortages and the pandemic have combined to leave the social care sector struggling.
The government has therefore given a £300m extension to the £162.5m workforce recruitment and retention fund announced in announced in October.
The fund can be used to pay for bonuses and bring forward planned pay rises for care staff, fund overtime and staff banks increasing workforce numbers up until the end of March.
The new funding is on top of the £500m for workforce training, qualifications and wellbeing announced as part of the Health and Social Care Levy.
National Care Forum chief executive Vic Rayner said: “The additional £300m funding for the care workforce is extremely welcome. The crisis impacting on both recruitment and retention within care has been growing at an alarming rate, and this funding will be essential to enable providers to take action. It is imperative that the funding gets straight to the front line in order that each and every care workers feel the benefit of this immediately.
“In addition, the recognition of the additional steps needed to ensure that the booster programme reaches the most vulnerable members of society and the care workforce are to be welcomed. The ambitions to turbo charge the programme for wider society must not risk limiting access to boosters for staff and residents, and so renewed focus on boosters in care are very positive.”
