Care minister Helen Whately is 'looking at' plan for social care for this year

Care minister Helen Whately has said her department is “looking at” how to deliver Boris Johnson’s election manifesto pledge to come up with a plan for social care this year.

Almost 44,000 people have signed a petition asking for social care to be considered equally important to the NHS, resulting in the petition being debated in House of Commons. MPs across the political spectrum called for recognition and reward for the care workforce at the debate.

Boris Johnson announced this week his aim to meet manifesto promises such as school upgrades and during the petition debate on 25 June, Helen Whately referred to his manifesto pledge for social care.

She told MPs she “passionately believes” social care is “absolutely equally important to the NHS”.

Care minister Helen Whately said: “In the months ahead, as we pledged in our manifesto, we will be looking at how we can build a long-term solution for social care, so that in the long term care workers get the rewards they deserve, and in particular, so that everyone can have the dignity and security that they deserve.

“I’m always blown away by the compassion show by our care workers who look after our most vulnerable. Honourable members will be aware that the government does not set the pay for social care workers in England.

"However, we are committed to raising the profile of our social care workforce in giving them the support they need.”

Responding to the petition, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) published a statement that promised a social care plan would arrive this year.

‘As the Prime Minister said, this government will deliver on its promises: we will bring forward a plan for social care this year’, the DHSC said in a statement.

‘There are complex questions to address, which is why we have invited all MPs and Peers to voice their views, solutions and concerns about reforming the way that people pay for their care. We are currently considering how to best to take forward these cross-party talks in light of Government guidance on COVID-19.’

MP can ’never say thank you enough’ to home care workers caring for Dad

The House of Commons debate, on 25 June, saw MPs praise adult social care workers as "hidden heroes" who deserve equal recognition and reward like NHS workers.

Referring to the public’s weekly clap for carers, Catherine McKinnell, Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, lead the debate with the words “a clap and a thank you is not enough”.

Paul Bristow, conservative MP for Peterborough, told the care minister he could “never say thank you enough” for the domiciliary care workers who looked after his father and effectively “gave him back his dignity”.

“I remember my father who died relatively recently. He was a strong and independent man and it was those domiciliary care workers that… cleaned him, that dressed him, that gave him back his dignity. My mother and I can never say thank you enough for that.

“Is paying for social care by local authorities for activities, is that the right way to do or can we do better by looking at outcomes?”

As well as backing equal parity of esteem for social care and the NHS workers, the MP said “that same parity of esteem needs to be delivered between care workers who work in care homes and those who help people in their own home”.

He said that “too often we hear bad stories” and bad experiences from home care workers as they are “tutted at" for wearing their uniforms out in public because of a lack of understanding by the public that home care workers wear uniforms while travelling between home care visits.

Mr Bristow also highlighted the misconception about care work being perceived as “low skilled” when they must administer medicines and do other complex tasks. “You need to be a real 'people person' to be a domiciliary care worker and these people are often hidden heroes in our own communities.”