FRAIL and vulnerable people will go without the care they need, the union Unison warned yesterday, after the Tories slashed social care funding by another £250 million.
A total of £600m has now been slashed by the Department of Health and Social Care.
One in 10 posts are vacant, with staffing shortages rising by more than 50% in the past year – there are currently more than 500,000 people waiting for care.
The £250m comes out of a £500m fund promised last year to support extra training places.
Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Amass) president Sarah McClinton said: ‘This leaves the government’s vision in tatters. Adult social care is in crisis. Now’s not the time to be holding funding back.
‘Many more people won’t get the quality care and support they need, forcing more family and friends to step in where they can, more people deteriorating and being admitted to hospital and further damage to the NHS and economy.’
Unison head of social care Gavin Edwards said: ‘The investment announced in 2021 was nowhere near enough to address the deep crisis in social care.
‘It didn’t deal with the poverty wages and absence of sick pay rife in social care. But by slashing those already inadequate plans, ministers have proved they have nothing but disregard for the sector.
‘With no national standards for pay and conditions, care workers will continue to quit en masse, leaving thousands of vulnerable people without vital support.
‘Those in need of care and those who deliver it need and deserve a lot better.’
Caroline Abrahams, director of charity Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance – which represents more than 70 charities – said: ‘With quite a chunk of the money originally promised for care now no longer available, our members are telling us this is just the latest in a long series of disappointments so far as recent government performance on social care is concerned.’
Health minister Helen Whately indicated that the cuts are part of a Tory programme to transform social care into a service which is mainly to be provided only electronically and remotely.
She said: ‘This package of reforms focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves, while also focusing on the better use of technology, the power of data and digital care records.’
- In 2022 there were 1.5 million people working in adult social care;
- About 400,000 people left their jobs, which is more than a quarter of the workforce;
- There were 165,000 vacancies, a 52% increase on the previous year and the highest on record;
- Care workers are paid an average hourly rate of £9.66 in the private sector and £11.03 in the public
sector.