MPs call for £7bn social care funding boost and care home costs capped at £46,000

A cross-party group of MPs is calling on the government to use the forthcoming spending review to invest £7bn more per year in adult social care by 2023/24. It also wants care home costs capped at £46,000 and better pay and recognition for care workers.

The Health and Social Care Committee has published its report Social Care: Funding and Workforce saying social care needs an ‘immediate increase to avoid the risk of market collapse’.

It adds ‘the starting point for the social care funding increase must be an additional £7bn per year by 2023–24 to cover demographic changes, uplift staff pay in line with the National Minimum Wage and to protect people who face catastrophic social care costs’.

In addition the report backs the introduction of a lifetime cap as originally proposed by the Dilnot Commission and endorses further consideration of free personal care.

'The real thank you' for care workers 'is not a weekly clap but a long-term plan'

Health and Social Care Committee Chair, Jeremy Hunt MP said: “The pandemic has held up in lights the brilliant and brave work done by the social care workforce - but the real thank you they want is not a weekly clap but a long term plan for the crisis in their sector.

“In this report we look at one element of that, namely the funding pressures, and conclude that the government must use the spending review to raise the annual adult social care budget by £7bn by the end of the parliament as the starting point for a wider series of reforms.”

MPs also want action taken to improve the pay and recognition given to social care workers, establishing a clear career path that is more effectively aligned with the NHS. They want transitional arrangements put in place to ensure the recruitment of social care workers from overseas for as long as is necessary. To address these wider issues, Mr Hunt said: “The sector needs a 10-year plan and a people plan just like the NHS. Without such a plan, words about parity of esteem will be hollow.”

In the report, MPs say reform of the social care sector ‘must recognise the extraordinary sacrifices made by the social care workforce throughout the pandemic to care for elderly and vulnerable people with utmost professionalism and often at great personal risk’.

The report Social Care: Funding and Workforce highlights a paper by the King’s Fund in 2019 which noted in the past 20 years there have been 12 White Papers, Green Papers and other consultations on social care in England as well as five independent reviews and commissions yet still no lasting solution.

'After so long in the wilderness the sector is being listened to'

In response to the report, Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said: “The report addresses the short, medium and long term requirements. It is heartening that after so long in the wilderness the sector is being listened to and we hope that this report will be the turning point that we so desperately need.”

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK called it a“very welcome” for a "cross party group of MPs, chaired by a recent Secretary of State for Health, to acknowledge that social care is underfunded to the tune of 'tens of billions' of pounds: now we need the Government to show the same intellectual honesty and commit to finding the cash."

The report also highlights how unfair the system is for people with dementia and refers to a man called Atherton who worked for the NHS as a doctor and was diagnosed with dementia in his 60s.

His wife Deborah describes ‘the profound unfairness faced by those who are diagnosed with this devastating illness, and can find themselves without any financial support’.

She said: “He was really proud to be a doctor in the NHS. He spent his whole life paying his national insurance, in the knowledge that when it was his turn the NHS would take care of him, but it hasn’t.

'Unfairness' of treatment of somebody with dementia 'makes me really angry'

“Now, he is unable to utter a couple of words at a time. He has seizures and falls. He is doubly incontinent. He doesn’t recognise his own children. Dementia is not just a matter of ageing. Liver failure is not like that. Cancer is not like that. It is the unfairness of the treatment of somebody with dementia that makes me really angry. It is like picking up a random card from a pack and saying, “Oh, you’ve got this particular one. Tough. That’s the disease the NHS isn’t going to pay for.”

In response to the report, Fiona Carragher, director of Research and Influencing at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “With two thirds of the astronomical cost of dementia currently being paid by people with dementia and their families, we welcome the support of MPs for an immediate significant cash injection.”

In the report, MPs revealed how they looked at social care in Japan where care home costs are set nationally and care providers compete on quality and reputation rather than price.

In Japan, care home residents pay ‘hotel costs’ (accommodation and food) but these contributions are means-tested and capped for those on low incomes. The system is funded through general taxation and through ‘premiums’ paid by all people over 40 at a rate of 1 per cent of income.

‘The success of the reforms in Japan has demonstrated that it is possible for a Government to grasp the nettle and take decisions on social care which, though they may be initially difficult, lead to positive and lasting change which is widely accepted by society,’ said MPs.

Social care in England is currently means tested, and people with assets worth more than £23,000 have to contribute to their care costs.

Report 'strongly endorses' £46,000 cap on care costs

The report states ‘we also strongly endorse a lifetime cap on care costs which could be implemented swiftly under the provisions of the Care Act 2014.

‘Any reform package must therefore introduce a cap on care costs to protect people against catastrophic costs. We believe this should be set at the level specified in Sir Andrew Dilnot’s original report, namely £46,000 which will cost around £3.1bn by 2023–24.’

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: “We know there is a need for a long-term solution for social care and are looking at a range of proposals as part of our commitment to bringing forward a plan that puts the sector on a sustainable footing for the future.”