The National Care Forum (NCF) has responded to the government’s announcement of £600m ringfenced social care workforce funding.
The funds will be made available to local authorities over the next two years to support recruitment and retention and boost workforce capacity.
The £600 million includes:
- £570 million workforce funding over two years, distributed to local authorities
- £30 million funding for local authorities in the most challenged health systems
In addition, a £10m per year programme will be aimed at enhancing research into adult social care and informing future social care policies. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has launched the Research Programme for Social Care which will collect information on the people at the heart of care, providing government and the sector with clear paths on how they can improve, expand, and strengthen social care for those people in need of care, carers, the social care workforce, and the public.
Liz Jones, Policy Director at NCF said: “We welcome the announcement of this ringfenced funding to local authorities intended to support the social care workforce. Hopefully, the clear grant conditions will ensure that it gets passed on to providers to enable them to reward their staff better, well in advance of winter pressures.
“We hope that our local authority colleagues will use this injection of funding to pay providers properly for the care and support they provide and ensure that we are able to better reward our social care workforce properly. It is essential that our fantastic workforce feel the benefit of this extra cash and we hope that the result will be an easier winter for both those delivering care and support and those receiving it.
“And, of course, a long term social care workforce plan, to sit alongside the NHS long term workforce plan, is still the key to ensuring a sustainable social care workforce for the years to come.”
