Tories slip out plan to halve social care workforce fund as MPs on Easter break
Tory ministers have slashed in half funding promised to boost the social care workforce.
The government had pledged to invest £500million to improve recruitment and encourage carers to stay in their jobs.
But ministers last night said they would stump up just £250million to provide training places and a new Care Certificate qualification.
Under the plans to overhaul social care, which were published in December 2021, it was also promised "at least £150 million" would go on making records digital.
But health officials yesterday confirmed that figure was now down to £100million.
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Care minister Helen Whately slipped out the announcement last night just days after MPs went on their Easter break.
Helen Whately slipped out the announcement while MPs were on their Easter break (Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock)Last month she had insisted she was part of a Government that "backs social care" as she appeared at a conference with hard-pressed carers.
Jackie O'Sullivan, of learning disability charity Mencap, said: "This plan is an insult to a sector that was once treated as a priority for Government.
"Just over a year ago, the Social Care White Paper laid out the urgent reform needed to enable people to access the care and support they rely on. It has now been diluted beyond recognition.
"Faced with a deficit of 165,000 care workers, the Government has chosen to cut its plans to recognise and support this workforce.
"Without this workforce, nothing else is possible: no increase in quality of care can be achieved; no innovative ideas can be realised; and people with a learning disability who rely on social care will suffer."
The King's Fund health think tank said the measures were "a dim shadow of the widescale reform to adult social care that this Government came into office promising".
Age UK's director Caroline Abrahams said millions of older and disabled people and their unpaid carers "needed something far bigger, bolder and more genuinely strategic to give them hope for the future".
Despite the massive cuts, last night she said the revised package "focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves".
Care England last month warned that adult social care was 'on the precipice' (Getty Images/iStockphoto)She said: "Care depends completely on the people who do the caring - that's over a million care staff working in care homes and agencies, and countless relatives, friends and volunteers, acting out of the kindness of their hearts.
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"That's why this package of reforms focuses on recognising care with the status it deserves, while also focusing on the better use of technology, the power of data and digital care records, and extra funding for councils - aiming to make a care system we can be proud of."
A report by Care England last month warned that adult social care was "on the precipice" when it came to costs.
It found the low level of pay for care staff was considered the biggest barrier to recruitment and retention.
The Government last night said its "refreshed plan to bolster the adult social care workforce" would speed up discharge from hospital and accelerate the use of technology in the sector over the next two years.
The Department for Health and Social Care said it will launch an Older People's Housing Taskforce "to decide how best to provide a greater range of suitable housing depending on the support people need".
It said £1.6 billion will be allocated over the next two years to improve hospital discharge.
Analysis by the King's Fund think tank estimated that delays in people leaving hospital in England could be costing an average of £395 per night, and suggested issues with social care and housing could be contributing to delayed discharges.
The Chancellor's spring statement in March was criticised by organisations in the sector for failing to mention social care.
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