Prior to the Queen’s Speech scheduled to air today (11 May), cross-party leaders of the Local Government Association have written an open letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak on the importance of urgent social care reform and funding.
As we prepare to manoeuvre out of the pandemic and return to the new ‘normal’ and a more familiar way of living, the importance of social care reform has been highlighted during these unprecedented times.
FIX SOCIAL CARE
Councillors involved in the Local Government Association have called on the UK Government to make good on their promises to ‘fix social care’. This letter comes ahead of the Queen’s Speech and the Spending Review, expected later this year.
The full letter from the Local Government Association is available to read here.
Points covered within the open letter include the need for ongoing investments, fully moving a historical model of wellbeing based on care homes and hospitalisation to one of prevention, reablement, more appropriate accommodation, and community care and support that puts people first and acts on their knowledge of lived experience.
Overhaul additional one-off grants alongside protecting people from having to sell their come to pay for their care.
OPEN LETTER
In the letter, cross-party leaders write: “We have previously stated, and still believe, that the case should be made for increases in national taxation and/or a social care premium based on the core principle of universal risk-pooling.
“The decisions your Government makes on social care funding and reform in the coming weeks have the potential to positively impact, to a significant degree, both the millions of people who draw on, or work in, care and support now, and the many millions more who will do so in the decades ahead.”
PLAN
The letter is not the first call to action for the UK Government. Care groups, charities, members of the disabled community and politicians have been calling for a plan, as promised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his first speech after being elected in July 2019.
Within the speech, the PM stated that he was “announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared.” As of yet, not plans have been published.
Similarly, it is unclear if social care reform will be featured within the Queen’s Speech – set to air today (11 May), with expected topics being introduced into new bills including education and training for teenagers and adults.
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