Sort Out Social Care, For All, Once And For All

In response to the commitment by the Prime Minister, ADASS has today published a report setting out what needs to be done by the Government to tackle the crisis:

• Short-term funding, including continuation of the Better Care Fund and Improved Better Care Fund, to prevent the further breakdown of essential care and support over the course of the next financial year.

• Long-term funding and reform following, to enable us to build care and support for the millions who need it and create a social care system that is truly fit for the 21st century.

• A long-term plan for adult social care which means a support system in place that links with other public services including the NHS and supports resilient individuals, families and communities.

Julie Ogley, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said: “We need real action from the Government – we cannot afford another false dawn.  We need to work together to ensure that we have an adult social care system that is fit for the twenty-first century.  We need to work together so that people can live good lives.

“With the Spending Round, and other recent announcements, the opportunities are there for the Government to take action and make a difference. These are the choices.”

The promised Spending Review is a real opportunity to address the burning injustice of social care. With this in mind, ADASS is calling on the Government to urgently confirm a short-term injection of funds, which will in turn allow space to develop a vital long term funding solution with clarity and certainty, and a long term plan. Funding reform requires choices to be made and agreements to be reached and it’s clear that adult social care needs:

• funding

• a plan for the essential workforce
• the ability to develop and use new technology and communications in ways that older and disabled people and their family find useful
• a better framework for relationships between local people, councils and the NHS

• greater awareness and certainty for everyone before we need support.

Social care provides care, support and safeguards for people during the most vulnerable times of their lives; it supports disabled or older people and it supports them to live good lives. However, with over a million people receiving social care funded by the state, over 350,000 thought to be paying for their own care, 1.4 million older people not getting the care they need, and around 1 in 6 of us – 7.3 million people – providing unpaid care for adult family members in England, this is about a group of people much, much bigger than the population of London now, let alone in the future.

ADASS believes that with this certainty, the adult social care sector will be able to get on with what it does best: being a great connector with people and organisations; safeguarding people’s rights; helping people to re-engage with life and communities; and organising funding or providing care and support that enables individuals to live the lives they want to live.