Adult Social Care
Four in five say social care deserves equal priority to the NHS, new poll reveals
A new poll has found that 79% of the British public believe social care reform deserves just as much government attention as the NHS – a powerful message of support from voters as the Government prepares to unveil its 10-Year Health Plan. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/care-reform-government-nhs-poll/
The nationally representative survey of more than 2,000 adults, commissioned by health and social care communications specialists PLMR and conducted by polling firm Clariti (formerly Savanta), reveals overwhelming public consensus on the vital role of social care in society.
According to the data, 84% of respondents see social care as just as essential to society as the NHS: a view that strengthens with age, from 71% of 16–24-year-olds to 91% of those aged 55–64. Meanwhile, 73% of the public recognise the sector’s positive contribution to the UK economy.
Yet despite this groundswell of public support, social care remains sidelined. Last month’s Spending Review offered a headline-grabbing NHS uplift described as “the equivalent of the GDP of Portugal” by NHS England’s interim chief executive Sir Jim Mackey.
By contrast, the £4 billion pledge to adult social care was heavily caveated: reliant on annual council tax hikes and vulnerable to being diluted by competing priorities, such as the proposed Fair Pay Agreement
What does the NHS 10 Year Plan mean for social care?
The government has unveiled its NHS 10-year plan, setting out to the transform the UK’s health and social care system. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/nhs-10-year-plan-what-it-means-for-care/
Keir Starmer launched the plan alongside chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and health secretary, Wes Streeting this week.
They claim that the plan will seize “opportunities provided by new technologies, medicines, and innovations to deliver better care for all patients – wherever they live and whatever they earn – and better value for taxpayers.”
What does the NHS 10 Year Plan include?
At the core of the 10 Year Plan are three big ‘shifts’ the government will make to radicalise how the NHS works:
- From hospital to community: more care will be available on people’s doorsteps and in their homes
- From analogue to digital: new technology will liberate staff from admin and allow people to manage their care as easily as they bank or shop online
- From sickness to prevention: patients will be reached earlier and the healthy choice will be the easy choice
Other measures include the integration of diagnostics, mental health, post-op, rehab and nursing into neighbourhood health centres to bring care closer to people’s homes.
Training has also been vowed for thousands more family doctors as well as plans to transform hospital outpatient appointments and provide personalised care plans for complex needs.
Some organisations, including the NHS Confederation, have applauded the focus on reforming the NHS operating model, “overhauling the capital regime,” introducing new public-private partnership models, and moving to outcomes-based and capitated payment mechanisms.
Near-total absence of adult social care from NHS 10-Year Plan “deeply concerning” say care workers
The Care Workers’ Charity has welcomed today’s announcement of a 10-year plan for the NHS, particularly its ambition to deliver care closer to home and prioritise prevention. However, it said it is deeply concerned by the near-total absence of adult social care from this vision. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/adult-social-care-nhs-10-year-plan/
In a statement, the organisation, which represents care workers across the UK, said it is ‘simply not feasible to transform the NHS without also addressing the urgent crisis facing adult social care’.
The statement continues that these sectors ‘may be distinct’, but they are ‘intrinsically linked – any meaningful NHS reform will depend on a sustainable and well-resourced adult social care system’.
The government’s plan outlines major changes, including the creation of neighbourhood health centres, mental health teams in every school, and a shift toward digital delivery of services. However, the Care Workers’ Charity says that without a parallel investment in adult social care, these goals risk being unachievable. Care workers – particularly those in domiciliary care – are the very professionals already delivering care in the community. Yet they remain chronically undervalued, underpaid, and under pressure.
Why the UK needs overseas care workers to protect our most vulnerable
Figures predict the plans will cut up to 50,000 so-called ‘lower skilled’ workers coming to the UK over the next year, with the government estimating there will be 7,000 fewer care workers as a result. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/overseas-care-workers-visas/
The government recently announced plans to close the care worker visa for overseas recruitment in a bid to cut net migration levels, and it has caused some debate across the industry
Set to come into force later this year, the plans mean care workers will no longer be recruited from overseas as part of a crackdown on visas for ‘lower-skilled’ workers. Instead, care home providers must hire British nationals or those overseas workers who are already in Britain.
This builds on measures introduced in April of this year that require care employers to prioritise hiring workers who are already in the country before recruiting from overseas.
While the government insists the initiative will grow domestic skills, end reliance on overseas labour and boost economic growth, it is a worrying prospect for the care sector which is already buckling under huge pressures of staff shortages, rising costs and chronic underfunding.
Across the industry, our teams and residents rely on the hard work of overseas workers, and the government’s proposal appears to downplay just how crucial their contribution is. Without the support of overseas workers, our most vulnerable in society could be at serious risk of lacking the care they need and deserve, if we cannot recruit adequate numbers of staff locally.
‘Key milestone’ in the journey towards the registration of social care staff reached
The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) has published a report confirming that the Care Professionals Register – administered by the National Association of Care and Support Workers (NACAS) – has provisionally met the public interest test for accreditation, also known as Standard One. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/social-care-registration/
This marks an important step towards accreditation for a workforce that plays a vital role in supporting people in care settings, in the community and in their own homes. The PSA recognises that care professionals – also known as care and support workers – are an eligible group for accreditation, and that their work benefits the public.
In England, care professionals are not subject to statutory regulation, unlike in other UK nations. Accreditation through the PSA offers a route to greater oversight and accountability and supports improved recognition for a workforce that is essential to our health and care system.
Care professionals work with some of the most vulnerable people in society. PSA accreditation of the Care Professionals Register will foster expectations for appropriate qualifications, safe and ethical practice, and values that promote dignity and respect.
The PSA will now continue to work with NACAS as it prepares its application for full accreditation.
The decision comes as the Casey Review considers the future of adult social care in England. This workforce, and the standards that it upholds, will be pivotal in delivering on any recommendations made. Accreditation can play an important role in strengthening public confidence in care services, by providing a clear route for raising concerns and an assurance that registrants meet recognised standards.
Care England calls for ‘urgent government action’ to address in-work poverty among care workers
Care England, the leading representative body for independent adult social care providers, has today responded to the Health Foundation’s new report “Poverty, pay and the case for change in social care” with a call for urgent and transformative government action to address the scandal of in-work poverty among care workers.https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/social-care-england-poverty-workforce/
The Health Foundation’s analysis reveals that 1 in 5 residential care workers live in poverty, and over 1 in 10 are food insecure. Perhaps most shockingly, 1 in 10 children of care workers go without essentials such as a warm winter coat. The report also highlights deep inequalities: 35% of care workers born outside the UK are in poverty, compared to just 13% of those born in the UK.
The report estimates that raising the wage floor in line with NHS Agenda for Change Band 3 would lift incomes for care workers by an average of 6.6%, and nearly 15% for those in the poorest households. Yet it warns that without extra funding, such changes could jeopardise services.
Adult social care vacancies down but domestic recruitment still ‘challenging’
The number of jobs in adult social care in England filled by British nationals has fallen by 85,000 since the pandemic, according to a report which warns of challenges ahead for recruitment in the long-stretched sector. https://www.thenational.scot/news/national/25347927.adult-social-care-vacancies-domestic-recruitment-still-challenging/
Posts filled by people with a British nationality since 2020/2021 fell by 7%.
The Government has previously pledged to “end the reliance on overseas recruitment” but Skills for Care’s latest report has said there must be a focus on “how we attract and keep more people domestically”.
Later Life Support
1.6mn older carers worry whether they’ll be able to keep caring for their loved one, new report finds
Age UK’s latest analysis finds that 2.1 million carers are aged 65 plus; 420,000 aged 80 and above; and all of them navigating the difficulties in caring for a loved one when they themselves are ageing. https://www.carehomeprofessional.com/1-6m-older-carers-concerns/
Age UK is calling on Government to provide more support for unpaid carers and is highlighting the concerning position of our 2.1 million unpaid older carers (65+) who shoulder an enormous amount of responsibility, often without the support they need.
This year’s theme ‘Caring About Equality’, highlights the inequalities unpaid carers face and what is needed to create a fairer society for them. Inequalities create negative impacts for carers’ lives, including by putting them at increased risk of financial hardship, social isolation, and poor mental & physical health.
Recent analysis by Age UK shows that older carers are more likely than older non-carers to be struggling financially: 27% of carers aged 65+ say they’re just about managing or finding it difficult to manage financially.
The latest Carers Week report suggests there are 11.9 million people of all ages currently providing unpaid care to family members and friends who are ill, disabled, or elderly. The impact of caring can also be significant, affecting many aspects of life, from work and finances to health and relationships. 2.1 million carers are aged 65 plus, of whom 420,000 are 80 and above.
The cost of the support unpaid carers of all ages provide is significant. In 2024, research from Centre for Care and Carers UK found the economic value of the cost of support provided by unpaid carers of any age amounted to £184 billion a year.
This Carers Week, along with partner charities, we are calling for greater equality for all carers and for the Government to commit to introducing a National Carers Strategy that helps to address the challenges carers face.
Age UK’s analysis for Carer’s Week finds that:
- 55% of older carers have a long-term illness or disability, equivalent to 1.2 million
- 66% of older carers lost sleep over worry, equivalent to 1.4 million
- 74% of older carers felt under strain, equivalent to 1.6 million
- 25% of older carers enjoyed day-to-day activities less than usual, equivalent to 530,000
- 62% of older carers felt unhappy or depressed, equivalent to 1.3 million
Vulnerability
Vulnerable customers encouraged to open up to financial firms
Two-fifths of people who have had experiences that could make them classed as vulnerable customers by financial firms do not realise they could be defined in this way, a survey indicates. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/vulnerable-customers-encouraged-open-financial-093058702.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGiWtHYpzBJRkR_wsGwMjKp3-Ln6sBGGjYpEVXndOBR6bCcn1d0cR4vIAPRwx-nwbCFylnQeB0n2Vz5kJOlErHI65Y_0–hckbhCE1H8RV4I-U9r_PNE-lctLcwSDVsfjcGLpPHQ0Tgw1G4EBerpmYh3U2YrWuqtFdjo_LBRyTAH
The risk of being vulnerable could be increased by people experiencing health issues that affect day-to-day tasks; going through life events such as a bereavement, job loss or relationship breakdown; having a low resilience to withstand financial or emotional shocks; or a low capability or confidence in managing money or in other areas such as literacy or digital skills, according to guidance previously set out by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Website Smart Money People commissioned a survey asking people about circumstances they had experienced. They were then asked if they would consider themselves vulnerable in relation to their finances when they were experiencing these situations.
New study reveals half of UK financial services customers are vulnerable but many are unaware of this
More than half of financial services customers in the UK would now qualify as being vulnerable, up 7% in one year, according to new research from Huntswood, a ResultsCX company. ResultsCX provides Customer Experience Management (CXM) services to leading global companies including several Fortune 100 and FTSE 250 firms. https://ifamagazine.com/new-study-reveals-half-of-uk-financial-services-customers-are-vulnerable-but-many-are-unaware-of-this/
The study from Huntswood, a leading UK-based consulting and customer solutions company working across a wide range of sectors including financial services, reveals that 44% of customers were classified as vulnerable in 2023, rising to 51% now.
The rise is largely due to a near-doubling in cases of mental health conditions amongst consumers (10.2% in 2023, rising to 19.5% in 2024)
A greater number of those surveyed also said they felt financially stressed in 2024 (16.7%), an increase from 14.1% in 2023.
But 40% of those who selected that they had experienced one or more characteristics over the past five years which could potentially make them vulnerable did not consider themselves vulnerable.
The FCA has been encouraging people to open up to their financial firm, to get the right support.