Social care funding and workforce inquiry launched

The Health and Social Care Committee has launched an inquiry into social care funding to establish how much extra money would need to be spent to counteract the impact of a shortage of care on the NHS.

MPs will consider shortages in the social care workforce and what solutions need to be found to address changes in the years ahead, specifically funding from the government in each of the next five years.

The committee welcomes short submissions of evidence addressing the following questions: What impact is the current social care funding situation having on the NHS?; What level of funding is required in each of the next five years to address this?; and what is the extent of current workforce shortages in social care, how will they change over the next five years, and how do they need to be addressed?

Jeremy Hunt, former Health Secretary and now chair of the Health and Social Care Committee, said: “This longstanding crisis comes with a huge cost to families and individuals who can’t get the social care they need. But it affects us all when a lack of availability prevents people leaving hospital, contributing to increased pressure on the NHS. We’ll be establishing an agreed figure that represents the extra funding that’s needed in each of the next five years in order to fix this. As well extra money, we’ll be examining solutions to tackle staffing shortages in social care that would be responsive to workforce changes.”

Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “People of all ages should be able to live the lives they want to lead and this inquiry is another important step in building towards a long-term, sustainable funding solution for adult social care. Our own analysis published ahead of this week’s Budget shows that adult social care services face a funding gap of almost £4 billion by 2025, just to cover basic inflationary and demographic pressures.

“This makes up almost two thirds of the overall funding gap which councils face by the middle of the decade to pay for local services, due to rising cost pressures and unprecedented demand. The government has the opportunity to take forward the proposals in our new report on the future of care, as it begins talks to build a cross-party consensus on the future of this vital service. We at the LGA are happy to host these talks and play our part in finding a sustainable, long-term solution for adult social care.”