Posted by: DH Media
Centre on 4 April 2023
We have set out measures to support people who receive care, and
staff and providers of care.
This includes the publication of a refreshed plan to further
digitise the social care sector and bolster the workforce, and
more funding to speed up discharge from hospital.
Here’s what you need to know about our plans.
What are the key announcements made today?
We have published Next Steps to Put People at the
Heart of Care, which builds on commitments outlined in
the People at the Heart of Care white paper – published in
December 2021.
We’ve previously announced up to £7.5bn additional funding for
ASC, which builds on an existing £1.7bn for reform, and today we
set out plans for how over £2bn of that funding will be used to
improve adult social care.
The plan sets out how we are taking forward reforms to support
workforce development, enable sector digitisation, keep people
independent at home, and improve local authority oversight and
new data collections.
We are also increasing the Better Care
Fund, which brings together health, social care and
housing to help older people and those with complex needs live at
home for longer.
This will increase from £7.7 billion last year to £8.1 billion in
2023 and £8.7 billion in 2024. This includes £1.6 billion to
improve hospital discharge arrangements.
What is included in the social care reform
package?
More than £2 billion of previously announced funding will go
towards improvements including:
• A call for evidence in partnership on a new care workforce
pathway – a new guide to the skills and experience staff need to
give good care, and training routes to get skills for care – and
funding for hundreds of thousands of training places, including a
new Care Certificate qualification – aiming to increase
opportunities for career progression and development, backed by
£250 million
• More than £100 million investment over the next two years in
digital social care records to enable secure sharing of
information across health and care services – freeing up time for
care staff and managers
• A new unit to explore creative solutions for improving care,
such as supporting local authorities to reduce care assessment
waiting times and using best practice from those areas where
waiting times have already been cut by a third – backed by at
least £35 million
• A £1.4 billion Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund that
local authorities can use flexibly including to increase the
rates paid to social care providers or reduce waiting times
• £102 million over two years to help make small but significant
adaptations people need to remain at home, stay independent and
avoid hospital – including grab rails and ramps, small repairs
and safety and security checks
• £50 million to improve social care insight, data and quality
assurance – including person-level data collections and new Care
Quality Commission assessments of local authorities to improve
poor performance on social care and identify where further
support is needed
• £35 million over the next two years to target support to local
areas through the Better Care Fund (BCF) Support Programme –
providing tailored support to local areas to identify and tackle
their most pressing challenges in a way that links health and
social care
How is this different from the People at the Heart of
Care white paper?
- The plan sets out further information on when we will deliver
specific proposals and how much funding we are providing.
- The plan also includes several significant commitments that
were not in the white paper, such as an Innovation and
Improvement unit, the Older People’s Housing taskforce and
support for international recruitment.
- The government remains fully dedicated to the 10-year vision
for adult social care set out in the People at the Heart of Care
white paper.
How are you delivering your workforce
commitments?
The social care workforce is at the heart of our plans, and our
£250 million investment in the workforce remains the biggest part
of our reform package.
• Our workforce package includes a new national framework which
will define the skills, values and behaviours needed to perform
different roles in social care.
• And we will be providing funding for hundreds of thousands of
training places to give care workers the opportunity to develop
new skills and support them to deliver high-quality, personalised
care.
• The plan sets out how we are spending £700 million of our
overall investment of over £2 billion in reform.
• Our remaining funding, up to £600 million, has not yet been
allocated. We will target this remaining funding on measures that
will have the most impact.
• The priorities for this government are making sure that people
have access to the right care, in the right place, at the right
time. This has meant a need to review certain policy areas to
focus on these priorities.
• We have been working closely with stakeholders and the sector
to design our reforms, and we continue to do so.
• The prime minister has recently reiterated the importance of
reforming the adult social care workforce with a focus on
professional development, skills and career progression, and
support for the workforce remains the biggest part of our reform
package.
How is the funding being allocated?
• No funding announced for adult social care has been removed
from the sector or re-allocated to the NHS.
• Of the funding set out alongside the white paper, up to £600
million has not yet been allocated. We will target this remaining
funding on measures that will have the most impact over the next
two years, taking on board lessons learnt from investment in
improving hospital discharge.
• We’ve previously announced up to £7.5bn additional funding for
ASC, which builds on an existing £1.7bn for reform, and today we
set out plans for how over £2bn of that funding will be used to
improve adult social care.
How are you supporting integrated housing?
• The Next Steps plan highlights how important the right housing
arrangements are in supporting people to live independently, and
we remain committed to supporting people to live behind their own
front door wherever possible.
• We are launching the Older Peoples’ Housing Taskforce.
• This will bring together experts from across the sector to make
recommendations on how we make sure that older people have a
better choice of accommodation to suit their needs and
preferences.
• We are also continuing to provide funding to support people to
remain independent at home: In addition to the £573m invested
annually in the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), we are making
£102m of new money available for local housing authorities to
increase their funding for Home Adaptations.
How are you supporting unpaid carers?
• We will be investing up to £25 million for unpaid carers, in
line with our funding commitment in the People at the Heart of
Care white paper. Further detail will be set out in due
course.
• Over £290 million of Better Care Fund funding in 2022-23 has
been earmarked to support unpaid cawrers, including for short
breaks and respite services.
• The government is also supporting a Private Members’ Bill,
which will introduce a new entitlement to one week of Carer’s
leave as a day 1 right.
• Up to now, there has been a lack of oversight of how well local
authorities are delivering social care, which makes genuine
accountability and transparency difficult to achieve. CQC
assessments, which will roll out this month will allow the public
and the government to better understand how well local
authorities are delivering their Care Act responsibilities,
including those related to meeting needs and assessing carers
needs.
