Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced plans to overhaul the social care workforce as part of a wider push towards a National Care Service.
He said the Government will explore turning the sector's fair pay agreement, due in 2028/29, into a broader reform to strengthen the workforce, including closer integration with the NHS and new training progression routes allowing staff to move from social care into NHS roles.
Burnham has also asked Baroness Louise Casey to bring forward her review of social care by a year, saying it must be ‘person-centred’, preventative and integrated with the wider health system.
Baroness Casey today launched a Big Conversation on Care to give the public their chance to share their views via an online platform on the future of adult social care in England.
Alongside this, the Health and Social Care Secretary will chair a new ministerial group to accelerate the Government’s response on social care and work towards appointing a Dementia Tsar later this summer.
In a third announcement, the PM launched cross-party talks with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, calling it ‘the right thing to do’ and the ‘first big test’ of ending political point-scoring on social care.
Burnham said reform had been left too late during his time as health secretary and stressed the importance of acting sooner. He confirmed today's announcements would be fully funded, though further ‘difficult decisions’ may follow.
Comment
Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), said that building the ‘broadest possible cross-party consensus and public support’ for change will be essential for adult social care reform.
‘Across the political spectrum, councils with cross-party convening powers already agree on many of the key challenges and priorities. Local government is more than a stakeholder in this process; it is a partner and the democratic system through which reform will be led. We are ready to play our part in building consensus.’
He added that improving pay and workforce support in adult social care is a vital step towards securing long-term sustainability for the sector but warned that the proposed funding is not?likely to be?sufficient to cover?the?full?cost of a?Fair Pay Agreement (FPA).
‘Local government must be part of decision-making?to avoid?a scenario where?an FPA jeopardises the supply of care?and?sustainability of council?finances,’ he said.
UNISON general secretary Andrea Egan said the PM was right that solving staffing issues is 'key to fixing the crisis in social care.'
'Improved pay, on par with staff employed by the NHS, and a better career path are vital to improve the status of the job and attract people to the profession.'
'There must be an urgent rethink on how international staff are being treated. Plans to push migrant care workers out of the UK need to be scrapped,' she added.
'They’re looking after people with complex needs and some of society’s most vulnerable people. They should be better rewarded, not vilified. Without them, the system would collapse.'
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