Social care inquiry into funding gap launched by Jeremy Hunt

An inquiry into the social care funding gap will be opened by the Health and Social Care Committee.

Chaired by former Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the committee will look into how much extra money is needed to be spent by government over the next five years to counteract the shortage of care on the NHS.

The Social Care Funding and Workforce inquiry will not examine questions such as how to raise extra funds for social care.

MPs will also consider shortages in the social care workforce and what solutions need to be found to address this.

Jeremy Hunt: 'We'll be establishing an agreed figure'

Health and Social Care Committee chair Jeremy Hunt MP said: “This longstanding crisis comes with a huge cost to families and individuals who can’t get the social care they need.

"But it affects us all when a lack of availability prevents people leaving hospital, contributing to increased pressure on the NHS.

“We’ll be establishing an agreed figure that represents the extra funding that’s needed in each of the next five years in order to fix this.

“As well extra money, we’ll be examining solutions to tackle staffing shortages in social care that would be responsive to workforce changes.”

The committee welcomes short submissions of evidence from the public, organisations and others with relevant expertise.

The evidence submitted must answer the following questions:

• What impact is the current social care funding situation having on the NHS?

• What level of funding is required in each of the next five years to address this?

• What is the extent of current workforce shortages in social care, how will they change over the next five years, and how do they need to be addressed?

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 14 April.