The government has announced a commission to review the long-term funding of adult social care in England – but firm proposals are unlikely to emerge before 2028.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting has appointed Baroness Louise Casey, who led the inquiry into workplace culture at the Metropolitan Police, to chair the commission.
Among its considerations will be how social care staff can be upskilled to deliver services such as health checks, including blood pressure monitoring, how to create better career pathways for care workers, and how technology can better be used to support disabled and elderly people to remain in their homes.
Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Streeting admitted he “took a lot of flak” for not setting out detailed plans for a National Care Service in Labour’s election campaign.
“Today, I am announcing an independent commission on building a National Care Service. The commission will publish its interim report next year and conclude towards the end of the parliament,” he said.
Streeting told the Radio 4 Today programme that he was optimistic about cross-party talks on how the issues in the sector can be addressed.
He said: “I believe even more strongly today that we need to build a genuine cross-party consensus in the way that the Labour government established after 1948 about the NHS. A national consensus around what a national care service ought to be, and how it is organised.”
According to workforce organisation Skills for Care, there are currently 131,000 open vacancies in adult social care in England as the sector struggles to attract recruits due to low pay and perceptions of difficult working conditions.
In October last year, Care England, which represents independent providers of social care, urged the government to take “urgent action” to address workforce issues, claiming the sector is “stretched beyond its limits”.
Care providers have also warned that increases to the minimum wage and employer national insurance contributions will make the cost of employing staff even higher this year.
Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said there was a risk the Casey review could become “yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles”.
“Care providers are doing their utmost to deliver essential care to society’s most vulnerable, yet the challenges they face only keep increasing,” he said.
“While the sector has demonstrated resilience, its repeated calls for help have been ignored, as the Government continues to prioritise reforming the NHS to achieve goals only a fully functioning adult social care system could deliver.”
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: “We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards.”
In 2023, a £600m scheme was launched by the Conservative government to help with recruitment and retention in social care, but care leaders have long called for a more long-term plan.
Professor Green added: “Every day without action means more vulnerable people are left without the care they urgently need now, while the already overwhelming pressures on the NHS continue to intensify.
“This isn’t about politics; it’s about people, and we need the Government to act now. Together, we can fix social care, but we must start today, not tomorrow.”
