Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the impact of staff shortages in the social care sector.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health
and Social Care () (Con)
As acknowledged by the Chancellor, pressures in the social care
sector are a serious issue. We are taking steps to boost the
social care workforce, investing up to £2.8 billion of additional
funding in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25 for adult social
care, raising the national living wage to £10.42 and launching
our national recruitment campaign. We will also be publishing a
staffing plan for regulated professionals, including nurses and
allied health professionals in health and social care.
(Lab)
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Last Thursday,
the Chancellor said that there were 13,500 beds occupied by
people who should be at home. When are the Government going to
ensure that there are enough staff to look after them in the
adult social care sector, given that you can earn more money in a
supermarket than in a care home? How much money are the
Government intending to save by postponing the Dilnot reforms?
Does the Minister agree with Sir Andrew that this delay is
“inhumane”? Will it not mean that many more people are going to
have to sell their homes in order to pay for the large care
costs? In short, does the Minister agree that the longer this
Government remain in office, the more people are having to wait
for decent, affordable, proper social care?
(Con)
The noble Viscount mentioned funding. Clearly, it was a difficult
choice, but our priority was to make sure that the funding went
into the supply of places over the next two years, because of the
impact that has across the system. Noble Lords will have heard me
mention many times how that affects the whole flow, which backs
up into ambulance wait times and everything else. That is why I
am delighted to say that we have secured £2.8 billion of extra
funding in 2023-24 and £4.7 billion in 2024-25. That will
obviously flow through the whole system, including into staff
wages and recruitment.
(Con)
My Lords, I welcome the announcement of the health and social
care visa, but the Government have no separate figures for the
number of workers who have come here under the new health and
care special visa rules, separately for health staff and social
care staff. So can my noble friend tell the House what are the
median and top quartile pay rates for social care staff? I am
happy for him to write to me if he does not have those figures.
Do the new visa’s minimum salary requirements mean there is
little hope of immigration filling the 165,000 or more vacancies,
leaving 2.6 million older people without the care they need, as
estimated by Age UK?
(Con)
I will need to write on the detail of the median and upper
quartiles, as mentioned. What I can say right now, though, is
that the national living wage increase will put them over the
current visa levels required, which I think will be a big boost,
allowing us to increase our recruitment from overseas. We have
already seen month-on-month increases and the national living
wage increase will help grow that further.
(Lab)
My Lords, is it not the case that if the national minimum wage
has gone up, therefore affecting the social care sector, it will
also have gone up affecting those who stack shelves in
supermarkets?
(Con)
I was referring in that answer to the visa scheme. That will
allow us to recruit more people from overseas who will be
eligible for a visa, in the fine traditions of the NHS. We have
always recruited from around the world and I am pleased to say
that we are recruiting in this space. This is a consequence of a
full-employment economy, which I think we would all accept is a
very good thing. But, clearly, that sometimes means we need help,
in areas such as the NHS, to recruit from overseas.
My Lords, Enabled Living in Newham has become the first
London-based social care provider to pay its workers the real
living wage—the first such employer to do so. We have heard that
social care workers are among the lowest paid, with one in five
residential care workers living in poverty before the cost of
living crisis, according to the Health Foundation. What
assessment have the Government made of the real living wage and
the impact that it could have on retaining valuable social care
workers?
(Con)
I thank the right reverend Prelate for the passion that she
clearly displays in this field. As I mentioned in my Answer to
the Question, we have a national recruitment campaign, and
looking at the staffing plan for allied health professionals and
what needs to be paid to recruit people in the right areas will
be part of that. The national living wage is a start, but clearly
we need to make sure that this is an attractive career that
people want to join and stay in.
(CB)
My Lords, I draw attention to my interests in the register.
Recently, the coroner in Cornwall ruled that some deaths in the
county are probably attributable to delays in ambulance services,
which are in turn associated with delays in transfers of care
from acute services to care homes. There has been a reduction of
more than 600 care bed places in Cornwall in the past four years.
This is an example of the challenge that we face. Does the
Minister accept that the Government’s objectives for the NHS will
never be effectively achieved without resolving the social care
challenges, and that the difficulty of recruiting from overseas,
particularly in rural areas, should be acknowledged?
(Con)
I agree and have often made the point that solving this part is
key to the flow and to getting people through discharge quickly,
which has a knock-on impact on A&E and ambulance wait times.
That is why I was delighted to hear the Chancellor recognise this
specifically and mention £2.8 billion of funding in 2023-24,
which will account for 200,000 new care packages in this space,
as well as £4.7 billion in 2024-25 to resolve the exact problems
that the noble Baroness brings up.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister has now referred three times to the money
that the Chancellor has said he will invest in social care from
April next year. But the crisis is now and the Government’s own
plan for patients says this must be resolved and there must be
more social care workers immediately to help with the pressure on
hospitals. What will the Government do over the next six months
to ensure that there are more workers and help to relieve the
problems with both discharges and A&E?
(Con)
I thank the noble Baroness. In the past few days, local
authorities have been notified of the £500 million discharge
fund. That funding will go out in December and January, so it is
very much going out there. It is very much designed to address
the issues of discharge, creating new places and helping to
recruit.
(Con)
My Lords, is there not a case for formally involving the
Commonwealth in this aspect? There is already a trial going on
with Sri Lanka for nursing. I suggest to my noble friend the
Minister that there are other Commonwealth countries that would
be more than willing to have a two-way flow and help reduce the
huge shortage that we have.
(Con)
I agree with my noble friend. Overseas and Commonwealth
recruitment is a key area here, which is why I am delighted that
we have addressed the visa restrictions and entered social care
on an essential workers list. We have already seen 15,000 people
come in this space, and that figure is increasing month on month.
My noble friend is correct that this is a critical area for
recruitment for us.
(Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the more problems there
are with paid workers in social care, the more difficulties fall
on the nearly 10 million unpaid carers. Of those who are
receiving the carer’s allowance, 40% say that they are already in
debt and not sure how they will manage through the winter. Does
he also agree that, in view of the myriad problems in social
care, it is time to listen to what the noble Lord, , asked the House last
Thursday, and think about a proper review of the whole of social
care?
(Con)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness. The new funds mentioned
recognise that this is critical to the health of our National
Health Service and the flow. As part of that, as I mentioned in
my Answer, we are looking at staffing plans across allied health
professions in the health and social care space, and it is vital
that we get the recruitment to this area to solve the overall
issue of flow and NHS wait times.
