NCF Publishes Social Care Must Haves For The Next Government

The National Care Forum (NCF) is calling on all political parties to recognise that social care matters to us all in their manifestos by prioritising adult social care reform.

NCF sets out today on its website, five key must haves for reform and long-lasting financial and environmental sustainability, developed in association with its membership, which are as follows:

• Think social care first – Ensure that people care about social care like they do the NHS and understand its central role in joined up health and care for people.
• Improve the pay, terms and conditions of the workforce – Care work is intrinsically skilled and valuable and must be remunerated to reflect this.
• Invest in People, Not Profit – Adult social care should be for people, not profit.
• The care economy matters: Create an economic growth strategy for adult socialcare – Social care is a large employer contributing £51.5bn to the English economy, making it an essential part of the national infrastructure. It also has a large part to play in the development of a net-zero economy.
• Enshrine Rights, Fairness and Choice for people in a National Care Covenant – Co- produce and set out clearly the mutual rights and responsibilities of citizens, families, communities and the state.

More detail can be found here https://www.nationalcareforum.org.uk/voice/ncf-policy- agenda/

Speaking ahead of NCF’s fringe events at the Conservative and Labour Party conferences in October and after she had chaired a panel at the Liberal Democrats conference on Monday this week, CEO Vic Rayner said: “All political parties must have social care at the top of their agenda as we move closer to the next election. Prioritising social care in this way will talk to the 8 million unpaid carers, the 1.6 million care workforce, the millions receiving care at home or in a residential setting and the millions more unable to access the care they need when they need it, the families and friends of those needing care and the thousands of employers supporting those with caring responsibilities. They don’t think anyone is listening. So parties must talk social care first and they will hear you. Make no mistake, this is an issue that touches everyone – social care matters to us all.”

Andy Cole, who is Chief Executive of Royal Star and Garter, and the Chair of NCF’s board, commented: “It’s vital that NCF is setting out the social care must-haves for the future. Social care is still often the poor relation of the NHS, so moving it to the top of the agenda is essential. In the not-for-profit care sector we focus on people, not profit, and it is high time our amazing workforce is properly recognised and valued. A collaborative approach will help to create a social care system that we all deserve and can be proud of.”

NCF are collaborating with a number of its provider members, frontline care workers and experts by experience to run fringe events entitled ‘Valuing People and their Communities: Unlocking the Potential of Not-for-profit Care’ at both the Conservative conference on 3rd October and Labour conference on 10th October.