Social care workforce funding halved for England

Topics covered: Department of Health and Social Care, social care funding, The department of Health and Social Care, UK Government

On 4 April 2023, the Department of Health and Social Care (“DHSC”) announced that funding promised to develop the social care workforce in England has been halved from £500 million to just £250 million. Previously, in December 2021 the DHSC published a white paper on adult social care reform. DHSC ministers pledged to invest at least £500m over the next three years to begin to transform the way we support the social care workforce. However, the money allocated to social care reforms is now just half of what was put forward in 2021.

What will the £250 million in funding achieve?

DHSC has announced that the £250m funding will enable plans for a new care workforce pathway, as well as hundreds of thousands of training places. The Government said its reforms would give care ‘the status it deserves’. However, some organisations in the sector say this falls short of what is needed.

What has been said?

The reform and slash in funding has been condemned by various different UK charities. Sally Warren, director of policy at health thinktank The King’s Fund said:

“Plans were a dim shadow of the widescale reform to adult social care that this government came into office promising. Demand for social care is at a record high, levels of public dissatisfaction have slumped to a new low and staff vacancies have never been higher. These revised steps towards reform will do little to radically change the system and, at best, are the bare minimum needed to stop it from collapsing.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, said:

“You just can’t provide really good care, tailored to people’s individual needs and aspirations, if you haven’t got the staff to do it.”

Jackie O’Sullivan, of learning disability charity Mencap, said:

“This plan is an insult to a sector that was once treated as a priority for government.”

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