£600m funding revealed to boost capacity of social care workforce

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has unveiled a £600 million package to help with recruitment and retention in social care.

The fund will support the social care workforce and boost capacity in social care, in turn supporting the NHS ahead of winter and through into next year. It follows on from recent NHS England plans to prepare for the busy winter period, which includes care ‘traffic control’ centres and extra beds.

Last week, Care Minister Helen Whately also wrote to local authorities about preparations for winter, and NHS England wrote to NHS organisations encouraging contingency planning to prepare for winter demands on the health service.

The £600 million funding for adult social care includes a £570 million workforce fund over two years, distributed to local authorities, and £30 million funding for local authorities in the most challenged health systems.

This funding follows the social care workforce reforms announced earlier this year and works, alongside the ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, to build a stronger overall foundation for the health and social care workforce.

Helen commented: “Hundreds of thousands of older people, disabled people and their carers depend day in, day out on our social care workforce. Care workers deserve a brighter spotlight to recognise and support what they do. That’s why we’re reforming social care careers and backing our brilliant care workforce with millions in extra funding.

“Our workforce reforms will help more people pursue rewarding careers in social care with nationally recognised qualifications. Our investment in social care means more funding to go to the front line. This matters, because support for our care workforce is the key to more care and better care.

“A stronger social care system, hand in hand with our NHS, will help people get the care they need, when and where they need it.”

The multi-million-pound investment builds on workforce reforms set out in the UK Government’s ‘Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care’ plan – backed by an initial £250 million – which claims to facilitate better recognition of social care as a profession. This includes working towards flexible, integrated career pathways between health and social care, in-line with the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Alongside NHS England’s letter to the NHS, DHSC has issued letters to local adult social care systems and providers to share the government’s priorities for adult social care this winter and to highlight the key actions local systems and care providers should take to protect individuals, their careers and the sector as a whole. This is to ensure a ‘whole system’ approach is taken to plan for the colder months and put adult social care on as firm a footing as possible ahead of winter this year.

Responding to the multi-million-pound social care workforce funding, Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “The LGA called for this funding to be ring-fenced for adult social care and distributed to councils to help fund frontline services. We are pleased to see that the Government has listened to councils and has protected this money.

“It is also positive that this money will be distributed through an existing mechanism, ensuring no additional burdens in the process. The social care workforce is crucial to delivering the care that people need and this funding will help ensure that people are able to access this support.

“However, councils need certainty that this money will continue, to be able to commit to sustainable long term funding for providers and care workers. There is still a huge amount of unmet and under met need for care and support, a lack of funding available for preventative care and long waiting lists. Today’s funding will help, but secure long term funding and a comprehensive plan for reform remain vital to ensuring everyone can access the care services they need to live an equal life and that all the aspirations set out in the Care Act can really be brought to life.”

Of the £600 million from the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan, £570 million will be given to local authorities as ‘flexible’ funding to allow them to tailor it to benefit local needs.

This could be by increasing the fees given to care providers, which will enable better pay for care workers, driving tangible improvements to social care for those who draw on it, or reduce pressures on the health system by increasing the capacity of social care and helping to bolster the sector ahead of winter, DHSC emphasises.

Cllr Martin Tett, County Councils Network Spokesperson for Adult Social Care, added: “The County Councils Network (CCN) very much welcome this timely announcement by the Government. The network called for this remaining funding to be provided directly to councils as soon as possible to help tackle additional inflationary costs and demand pressures which are impacting social care services this year and next.

“With funding split over two years this will help councils mitigate some of the financial and workforce pressures over the next 18 months. It is also positive that the funding will be distributed through the existing Market Sustainability & Improvement Fund without further administrative burdens.”

Coinciding with the funding announcement, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has launched a new £10 million per year funding programme focused on social care research. The Research Programme for Social Care will collect information on the people at the heart of care, providing government and the sector with clear paths on how they can improve, expand, and strengthen social care for people in need of care, carers, the social care workforce, and the public.

Beverley Tarka, President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, commented: “We welcome this announcement of £600 million funding for adult social care. It will help this winter, which is going to be difficult for all of us needing or working in health or care. And it will bring relief to disabled and older adults, their families and carers, who rely on care and support services to live their lives.

“The Government has listened to calls from Directors and others in adult social care to make resources available earlier to support planning for winter. By announcing this funding now, guaranteeing the funding over two years and giving councils flexibility to spend it where it will make the most difference, the Government is putting us in a much better place than last year, when funding came too late, while we were already in the middle of a winter crisis.

“For example, this funding could be used by councils to invest in providing more care at home to prevent people needing to go into hospital, offering carers more support or targeting funds to counter the challenges they face with the recruitment and retention of the workforce. This could all help to reduce waiting lists for care.

“Directors of adult social care like me will sleep better knowing we have more resources to go towards meeting the ever-increasing need for social care – our latest survey showed that while social care need is rising across all areas of our communities, three-quarters of Directors expressed concern they won’t have enough in their budget to get people the right care at the right time. Though this won’t solve all these problems over the long-term, but it will help stabilise the situation and help us address the challenges this winter.”