WIREDGOV

Simon Bottery, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, responded to the £600 million social care workforce and capacity boost announced by the Department of Health and Social Care on Friday

‘The additional £600 million over two years for adult social care will offer some relief to hard-pressed local authorities and some of the money should feed through to struggling social care providers and staff, and therefore improve the care people receive.

‘Clearly, however, this is not the properly funded workforce plan that social care needs.  

‘It’s welcome that the money is provided over a relatively long period of time and that it can be spent on a fairly wide range of initiatives. In particular, it’s good that local authorities haven’t been locked in to spending the money simply on improving hospital discharge when most of the demand they face for social care comes not from people in hospital beds but in the wider community.

‘Sadly, however, in using money originally earmarked for wider reform to help keep afloat the existing system, the government is acknowledging the end of its broader ambitions for social care. The need for reform will not go away though. If a new government wants to create a social care system that is fit for purpose, they will have to set out a genuine plan for change.’

£600 million social care winter workforce and capacity boost