{"id":855,"date":"2021-09-14T18:10:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T18:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jointpublicissues.org.uk\/?p=10981"},"modified":"2021-09-14T18:10:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T18:10:30","slug":"why-fixing-social-care-will-take-more-than-funding-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/standrewsurcrustington.org.uk\/?p=855","title":{"rendered":"Why fixing social care will take more than funding reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

From the reporting of last week\u2019s announced reforms to the
\nsocial care system in England, you might be forgiven for thinking that the key
\nissue was National Insurance contributions, or broken election promises, or even
\ngrand political gambles. Fascinating as this is (for political nerds like me at
\nleast) it is a serious problem that in the one week when social care is at the top
\nof the news agenda, remarkably little attention has been given to those who need
\nits help or do the hard work of delivering care day to day. <\/p>\n

What is even more troubling is that the Command Paper presented
\nto Parliament introducing the changes to social care goes into huge detail on
\nthe tax issues (including a section on the rather niche issue of freeports)
\nwithout telling us much about how the extra money will improve the quantity or
\nstandard of care available to families in need.<\/p>\n

Huge demand, but often overlooked<\/strong><\/p>\n

Around two million new requests are made to local authorities in England for social care each year. However, despite its huge scale and importance, social care has never had the recognition, funding or public support afforded to the NHS. Perhaps this is because unlike the NHS only one in seven of us have direct contact with social care services any given year[<\/a>, or perhaps it is because it provides unglamorous care we hope we will never need ourselves, to people who we would prefer not to think about.<\/p>\n

For whatever reason, social care has been politically easy
\nto forget. The Dilnot
\nReport<\/a> from which the main ideas for the current reforms are drawn was
\npublished over a decade ago, and was commissioned because by 2008 the social
\ncare system had been widely regarded as increasingly inadequate for a decade
\nbefore that. The report was widely welcomed, but despite frequent political promises
\nto \u201cfix social care\u201d, the reality of the next decade was that the sector was
\nforced soldier on in the face of increasing need and dramatic cuts in funding. The
\nCovid pandemic then threw fresh attention on the challenges faced by the system.<\/p>\n

Need for reform<\/strong><\/p>\n

The case for change falls into three broad areas of concern.
\nFirst, there are not enough social care services available to meet the need. Secondly,
\ncare staff have persistently been undervalued and poorly paid. Finally, for
\nsome people care is very expensive, even to the point of needing to sell their
\nhome to pay for it.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s reforms focus on addressing the third of
\nthese concerns. It has changed the system for paying for care, introducing a
\ncap on how much people will have to pay for their care costs, funded through tax
\nincreases. Broadly this is better for those with assets of \u00a320,000, but for
\nthose with less, very little changes. For those with large amounts of savings
\nor assets, perhaps a property in an expensive area, the system provides
\nassurance that this wealth will be protected. I understand why that is
\nimportant for many, and depending on how this assurance is paid for, it could
\nbe just. <\/p>\n

Tackling injustice<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, there are many other injustices about the social care
\nsystem which warrant attention. More than 1.5 million people need and are entitled
\nto care but are not receiving it \u2013 leaving many people who could thrive if only
\ntheir care needs were met. Workers are often poorly paid and not treated fairly,
\nand not all care is of the quality people deserve. Women disproportionately
\nbear the burden of care, both as low paid workers and as unpaid carers taking
\nup the stain caused by an inadequate care system. There are racial injustices
\nas ethnic minorities report less access and satisfaction with the care system,
\nand carry out a greater proportion of low paid care work. I could go on.<\/p>\n

We do not yet know how much money these reforms will provide
\nfor the social care system, but even if it was the entire \u00a311 billion that will
\nbe generated by the planned tax increases, it would still be \u00a315 billion short
\nof spending the same proportion of national income on social care as in Scandinavian
\ncountries. Beyond the funding reforms, there are very few commitments to change
\nor even provide additional resources to social care. Changing means tests and providing
\na one-off above-inflation funding increase is certainly not going to be enough
\nto \u201cfix social care\u201d.<\/p>\n

Find out more: Read Paul\u2019s explainer on the social care system<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

[1]<\/a>
\neither as a person receiving care or a family member helping with arrangements<\/p>\n

<!–
\n–>
\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the reporting of last week\u2019s announced reforms to the social care system in England, you might be forgiven for thinking that the key issue was National Insurance contributions, or broken election promises, or even grand political gambles. Fascinating as … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-urc-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t