Government tackled by Tory grandee over missed pledge to ‘fix social care’

By Nick Lester, Reporter20th February 2023News EnglandAdult Care, Government / Politics, Local Authorities, News England, Social Care

A Tory former cabinet minister has questioned the wisdom of the Government going into the next general election without delivering on its promise to “fix social care”.

Challenging his own front bench, Conservative grandee Lord Forsyth of Drumlean (pictured) highlighted that 10 million people were affected by the sector, from people receiving support and unpaid carers through to staff.

Responding, health minister Lord Markham said the hard-pressed sector was being tackled, pointing to increased financial support, but acknowledged there was “a lot more to be done”.

Social care shortages have fuelled the problem of bed-blocking in hospitals, leading to long ambulance queues and delays reaching 999 patients.

The Government has also faced criticism for the decision to push back long-promised social care reforms to October 2025.

These included an £86,000 cap on personal care cost contributions and an expanded means test that was more generous than the existing one, which had been due to come into effect from October 2023.

Speaking at Westminster, Lord Markham told peers 10 million people in England were involved in the adult social care system “including those drawing on care and support, unpaid carers and the workforce”.

He added: “We have made up to £7.5 billion available over two years to put the sector on a stronger financial footing, improve access to social care and address workforce pressures.

“We will publish further details this spring, setting out how we intend to make improvements to the system.”

But Lord Forsyth said: “Given that the Government promised that they would fix social care, and given that… the minister said that there were 10 million people affected, is it wise to go into a general election without having done so?”

Lord Markham replied: “As ever, I thank him for his friendly questions.

“We know that this is an area that needs to be addressed, and I think that it is an area that we are addressing.

“I have been up here for about five months now, and in the time that I have been here, we have announced a £7.5 billion increase in spending over two years, a £700 million discharge fund over this year, and the recruitment of thousands of people every month from overseas.

“Yes, there is a lot more to be done, but there have been some very solid results in the meantime.”