Social Care Set To Influence General Election

Research has shown that a 2.6m strong ‘social care vote’ is set to have a pivotal influence on the 2024 General Election – with the scope to influence change in more than 100 marginal constituencies.

Research by the social care charity Community Integrated Care, in its report ‘Who Cares Wins—Unfair To Care 2024,’ has revealed significant public support for the social care sector and a large electoral block of people who work in and draw on social care.

In exclusive YouGov polling for the publication, more than half of adults – 53% of those polled – stated that they would have a more favourable view of political parties that address the issues of low pay in care, with only 2% saying that they would have a less favourable view of parties that improve pay in the sector. This reflects 97% of adults expressing that the shortage of care workers is an essential issue, with 95% saying that social care workers deliver an important role for society.

Unfair To Care 2024 finds that the 2.6 million strong ‘social care vote’ represents an average of 5,000 people per constituency whose voting intentions will be influenced by working in or drawing on social care in England. This audience is sizeable enough to change the balance of power in almost 100 marginal constituencies.

The report presents in stark focus why resolving the challenges faced in social care will be a priority for so many. It highlights that care workers earn on average £7,617 less than their direct peers within the NHS. With 152,000 vacancies and a 28.3% workforce turnover rate in 2023, these issues create a cascade of negative impacts across society – reducing the quality of life of people supported, impacting capacity and stability in the NHS and social care systems, and constraining economic productivity.

Teresa Exelby, Chief People and Corporate Services Officer at Community Integrated Care, said:
“It is clear that social care will have a significant influence on the course of the General Election. We see every day how passionate people who work on and draw on social care are about the challenges that they and their communities endure. Beyond this, the polling data and increasing visibility of social care in electoral debates show that the care sector’s cause is cutting through.

We hope that whichever party leads our next Government, they can provide the progressive investment, support and reform that is needed to deliver a care sector that empowers people who draw on care to live their best life possible and makes social care a sustainable, rewarding career.

Importantly, Unfair To Care shows that investing in social care is an effective policy that delivers multiple returns. It demonstrates that improving pay is significantly offset by the savings it will deliver in several areas – including reducing the costs of care sector recruitment by £1.4 billion and saving £1.7 billion by supporting more timely discharges from NHS hospitals, amongst several areas of economic impact.”