The answer is simple: increase wages
Given Liz Truss has said that the NHS budget "will have to continue to go up", how likely is it that social care will see the £13 billion in extra funding?
The reality is that an underfunded social care sector only puts more pressure on the NHS. People whose care needs are unmet are more likely to end up in hospital, and the absence of suitable care arrangements keeps people in hospital for longer. In our report, 'Long-term funding of adult social care', we argued that the NHS and social care are interdependent: rather than pitting one against the other, each needs to be adequately funded to reduce pressure on the other.
Is the £86,000 care cap at risk if extra funding for the sector comes from general taxation rather than the dedicated levy, as Liz Truss would like to see happen?
It was clear from our inquiry into the long-term funding of adult social care that the £86,000 cap was already at risk from the Government potentially underestimating how much it would cost to implement its proposals for how people pay for their care. The Government should re-evaluate the cost and provide further funding to local authorities if necessary. The £5.4 billion over three years that the Government has ring-fenced from the levy for both its charging reforms and sector reforms is totally inadequate. We recommend that wherever the money comes from, the Government urgently needs to allocate at least an extra £7 billion each year to social care.
Liz Truss wants to see more people in social care beds. What can she do to ensure the sector has a sufficient workforce to deliver this care?
The answer is simple: increase wages. We heard directly from care workers that their wages do not make them feel valued for the highly skilled nature of their work and the responsibility for others’ lives that they have. They earn the same or more working in retail or hospitality, and many leave the care sector for higher pay in the NHS. The Government should also focus on increasing opportunities for career progression, reducing the number of zero-hour contracts, and taking further steps to recruit more care workers from overseas if needed.
What must Liz Truss or her successor do to ensure she doesn't replicate Boris Johnson's failure to, as he vowed, "fix social care once and for all"?
The Government must provide adequate long-term, sustainable funding for adult social care so that everyone who needs it can access good quality care. Councils need a multi-year financial settlement so that they can put proper plans in place for their residents and local care markets. Currently the Government has nothing more than a vision. It needs to publish a 10-year social care plan with a timetable and key milestones, which embeds the crucial role of housing in care and delivers a suitable variety of housing options, recognising that most people receive care in their own home. It also needs to provide proper support to workers and unpaid carers. More immediately, the Government needs to save the sector from the brink of collapse and increase short-term funding to deal with rising inflation and energy costs.