I present the Five Pillars of Social Care Reform upon which the Independent Care Group believes the sector can be saved, rebuilt and improved to provide care that we can be proud of. Of all the major crises facing this country, the care of our oldest and most vulnerable is one that cannot wait any longer for solutions.
We have been warning for more than 30 years that social care was not being funded properly to provide a good, sustainable service for people who need that care every day to help them live a full life.
Those years of under-funding left social care in a perilous state and Covid-19 then hit it hard. Now the sector finds itself facing a massive staffing shortage and huge increases in costs, including rocketing fuel and utility prices.
There is a very real risk of significant provider failure with a loss of care provision and a subsequent, knock-on impact upon NHS healthcare. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In these five pillars we set out the urgent measures that need to be taken. If adopted we can, together, begin to build a Health and Social Care service that provides proper, sustainable cradle to the grave care for everyone who needs it, when and where they need it. And a care sector that properly rewards the amazing staff who time and time again deliver wonderful care, against the odds, to grateful recipients. I commend the five pillars of social care to you.
Mike Padgham
Chair
Independent Care Group
