Levelling Up Committee says adult social care needs immediate funding injection

According to the Levelling Up Committee, the government urgently needs to provide additional funding this year for the adult social care sector to meet immediate pressures, such as inflation and unmet care needs.

The cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee examined the Government’s charging reforms and local government finance, unpaid carers and workforce challenges and published a report saying the “message rang clear throughout our inquiry: the adult social care sector does not have enough funding either in the here and now, or in the longer-term”.

According to the report, the Government currently has "nothing more than a vision", on adult social care with no roadmap, no timetable, no milestones, and no measures of success.

The report explains that Covid has exacerbated the underlying structural challenges of rising demand, unmet need, and difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff.

Other problems the committee found include pressures arising from increases in the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage, and rising inflation.

The report urges the government to publish a 10-year plan for how its vision in the People at the Heart of Care White Paper will be achieved. The committee also called on the government to publish a 10-year strategy for the adult social care workforce which includes a clear roadmap with core milestones, outcomes, and measures of success.

Clive Betts, Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, said: “As Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said he would fix the crisis in social care once and for all. The Government deserves credit for attempting reform and for acting to try to prevent the unpredictable and catastrophic costs which can be inflicted upon people for their care. However, the Government should be under no illusions that it has come close to rescuing social care and it needs to be open with the public that there is a long way to go.

“Ultimately, whether it relates to immediate cost pressures or on wider structural issues in the sector, the fundamental problem is that there continues to be a large funding gap in adult social care which needs filling. Those who need care, their loved ones, and care workers deserve better.

“The NHS and adult social care provision should not be pit against one another. The two systems are interdependent and each needs to be adequately funded to reduce pressure on the other. Wherever the money comes from—from allocating a higher proportion of levy proceeds to social care, or from central government grants—the Government urgently needs to allocate more funding to adult social care in the order of several billions each year.”