As the Conservative party’s leadership contest heats up, the National Care Forum [NCF] - the leading association of not for profit care and support providers – is calling on the contenders to put social care at the very centre of their policy agendas and to reaffirm their commitment to its reform.
The entire care sector, the NCF says, has been watching the leadership race with increasing concern as those vying for the top position compete to show that they are willing to cut taxation, and in particular, the recent NationaI Insurance increase, better known as the ‘health and social care levy’.
The levy is the proposed funding mechanism for the government’s urgent social care reforms, but there has been no information provided by any candidates on how these reforms will be funded if the levy is cancelled.
The not-for-profit sector is calling for a greater share of the levy, not less, to allow the plans for reform to be met. The government’s reform plans include a cap on care costs, a fair price for social care providers, the ability for those who fund their own care to pay at the local authority fair price for care rates (which is now planned to be phased in over 18 months from October 2023), and greater investment in the workforce and innovation.
The NCF has said that its members want to see a greater commitment from government to enabling and funding better pay, terms and conditions for the workforce, alongside a dedicated workforce plan.
Professor Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of the NCF said: “Those responsible for the commissioning and delivery of care, alongside those receiving care and support need answers now.
“We need a leader that commits to reform, commits to address the chronic underfunding and fragility of the sector and most of all commits to own this golden opportunity to co-design a social care system for the future that all can hold in the highest regard.
“Social care is a public service and those who receive care and work in care expect a leader who sweats the hard stuff. The next prime minister would do well to remember that social care matters to us all.”
Photo by Dominik Lange on Unsplash
