The Government has ‘no roadmap’ for fixing the failing social care system and ‘nothing meaningful’ in place that might demonstrate progress, MPs have warned.
The Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) report into the state of the troubled social care system says that the Government is falling short on its promise to ‘fix the crisis’ and should commit to providing long-term financial support to councils.
A PAC statement said: ‘Worryingly, Government has no roadmap for achieving its vision, or any targets or milestones beyond 2025, with nothing meaningful in place to demonstrate progress.’
It found that chronic understaffing, rising waiting lists and patchwork funding are putting local authorities under increasing pressure.
The report acknowledges the Government committed £2.7bn in additional funding in 2022 in response to emerging pressures on care provision.
However, the committee said they remain 'unconvinced whether government knows if it is achieving value for money'.
Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz, social care spokesperson for the Local Government Association (LGA), said: 'We strongly support the committee’s call for long-term financial support and certainty for social care, a workforce strategy to address staffing shortfalls and a road map for reforms.
'Adult social care remains in a precarious position, with overstretched budgets, significant unmet and under met need, and remaining instability within the provider market. Any reforms need to invest in prevention and recovery in both health and social care in order to be successful.'
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: 'We are committed to reforming adult social care and have invested up to an additional £8.6 billion over two years to meet the pressures facing the sector, grow the workforce and improve hospital discharge.'
