Ministers today unveiled their ’10 year vision’ for solving the nation’s social care crisis but campaigners warned the plan does not go far enough while ex-health secretary Jeremy Hunt labelled it a ‘disappointment’.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the plan ‘clearly lays out how we will make the system fairer and better to serve everyone’.
But charity bosses blasted the offering as they said the Government had produced ‘an underpowered saloon car’ rather than the ‘Formula One vehicle that was required’.
Ministers today unveiled their ’10 year vision’ for solving the UK’s social care crisis but campaigners warned the plan does not go far enough
Jeremy Hunt, the chairman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said the plan was a ‘disappointment given the extent of the crisis in social care’
The Government is pressing ahead with an overhaul of the social care system which will include introducing a new £86,000 cap on costs.
It has already announced the creation of a new Health and Social Care Levy which will raise an extra £5.4billion in tax to provide a funding boost to the NHS and care sector.
Ministers this afternoon published a white paper which sets out how some of that money will be spent over the next three years.
Some £300million will be allocated to increase the range and amount of new supported housing.
A new practical repairs service will be set up so that people will be able to ask for help to adapt their own homes to enable them to remain living independently for longer.
At least £150million will be spent on rolling out new technology to support independent living while £500million will be invested in training support for the 1.5million strong adult social care workforce.
Mr Javid said: ‘This ten-year vision clearly lays out how we will make the system fairer and better to serve everyone, from the millions of people receiving care to those who are providing it.
‘We are investing in our country’s future – boosting support to help people live at home with their families for longer and ensuring that health and care work hand in hand so people get the help they need.’
But Labour’s shadow care minister Liz Kendall said the white paper ‘falls woefully short of the mark’ as she claimed the Government had failed to address the immediate pressures facing social care.
Mr Hunt, the Tory chairman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said the plan was a ‘disappointment given the extent of the crisis in social care’.
He said: ‘Providing an additional £1.7billion in funding over three years falls far short of the annual £7billion sum that our evidence found would be necessary to fix social care.
But Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the plan ‘clearly lays out how we will make the system fairer and better to serve everyone’
‘The White Paper states that it provides an “ambitious ten year vision”, but it doesn’t acknowledge the scale of extra resource needed to realise that vision, based on the crisis the sector faces right now.’
Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, said a lack of investment means changes in the sector will be modest and slow, despite urgent immediate challenges.
She said: ‘Rather than the Formula One vehicle that was required, the paper is an underpowered saloon car at best.’
