A new report is calling for a fundamental shift in how adult social care is funded and understood – arguing it should be recognised as essential national infrastructure rather than a crisis service.
Launched in parliament to MPs, peers and sector stakeholders, The Power of Care: the system behind our society from Care England draws on surveys of care providers, workers and people receiving care. It highlights a sector supporting over 800,000 people, employing 1.6 million and contributing £78bn annually to the UK economy.
Published in partnership with PLMR, the report calls on Government to introduce multi-year funding, cost-reflective fee rates and stronger NHS integration in the short term.
It also calls for longer-term structural reform which recognises care’s role in prevention and rehabilitation as part of a more integrated health and care system.
Professor Martin Green OBE, chief executive of Care England, said the sector was ‘being asked to do more than ever, with less and less funding to meet the demand.’
Nathan Hollow, Board Director and Head of Health and Social Care at PLMR, added: ‘If policy makers are serious about prevention, neighbourhood health, NHS recovery, economic growth and building stronger, more equal communities, then social care must be treated as central to the national agenda. It is one of the most powerful tools we have to deliver all these goals, while transforming the lives of millions of people.’
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