Care England, the largest representative body for independent
providers of adult social care, has expressed surprise as to why
social care has been left out in the cold in the Chancellor’s
Comprehensive Spending Review this afternoon.
Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, says:
“In light of the sector’s contribution during the COVID-19
pandemic, Government must support and be responsive to the needs
of the sector. Of course £1 billion is welcome, we welcome every
penny, but in comparison with the NHS and the challenges that the
sector faces, this figure is too little and too late.
Unfortunately on previous occasions when the Government gave huge
amounts of money to Local Authorities it did not reach the front
line so we have grave concerns about the delivery mechanism”.
The Chancellor said that there would be ‘access’ to £1 billion
extra for social care, split between adult and children’s social
care services most of which will be raised locally. The
supporting documents also make refence to additional resources
for the Better Care Fund. Care England will be examining the
detail, but this is a drop in the ocean in comparison with what
the sector needs.
Care England welcomes the pay rise for nurses and hope that this
extends to independent sector nurses who are equally vital to
help look after our society and therefore that this will feed
into the Funded Nursing Care rate for 2021/22 and continuing
healthcare fees also next year.
Martin Green continues:
“Care England hopes that the Government makes good on its promise
to bring forward proposals next year on its commitment to
sustainable improvement of the adult social care system. This
cannot wait any longer. If we thought 2020 was hard,
unfortunately we have worse to come”.
