Jeremy Hunt goes from ‘hero to zero’ on social care as sector reacts to autumn statement

Jeremy Hunt has gone from “hero to zero on social care”, according to campaigners who branded the absence of any new funding commitments to the struggling sector “shameful”.

The only mention of social care in this week’s autumn statement was to “reaffirm” the commitments made at the 2022 statement, when the Government pledged to make available up to £14.1 billion for the NHS and adult social care.

Age UK noted the 2019 pledge by then-prime minister Boris Johnson to “fix the crisis in social care once and for all” and said Wednesday’s statement was “a reminder of how desperately short the Government has fallen”.

The Carers Trust said it was “shameful” than none of 110 measures announced by the Chancellor “gets anywhere near easing a social care crisis that is causing so much suffering for so many”.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance, said: “With this autumn statement the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has gone from hero to zero on social care.

“Last year we applauded him when he ordered a significant increase in funding to keep services from collapsing but this year, despite clear warnings from local government about the likelihood of further cuts to care, he has offered nothing.

“And what’s more, even though the rise in minimum wage is thoroughly welcome and deserved, without additional funding the cost of providing or buying social care will be going up.”

She added that “transformational reform is still badly needed in social care, but for now the prospect of it has disappeared out of sight, and millions of older and disabled people, and their unpaid carers, are paying a very high price”.

Kirsty McHugh, of the Carers Trust, said: “The system remains starved of investment and still has no long-term funding plan, despite years of empty promises.

“For a chancellor who claims the best way to tackle poverty is through work, it’s scandalous that there is next to nothing in his autumn statement to help make that a reality for so many unpaid family carers.

“There are around seven million of them in the UK and many are being driven into poverty by having to give up paid work so they can look after loved ones. Without this unpaid workforce the social care system would collapse, yet the UK Government seems happy to let them prop it up with no extra support.”

Carers UK described it as “bitterly disappointing that the Government has – yet again – failed to acknowledge the devastating impact the lack of funding for health and social care services is having on millions of unpaid carers supporting older and disabled family members”.

Professor Martin Green of Care England, which represents providers in England, said the Government needs to “invest in social care to truly stabilise a key pillar of our society and economy”.

He added: “While the rise in National Living Wage has an undeniably positive impact on those working within adult social care, due consideration must be lent to care providers who will need to grapple with increased workforce costs again, against a backdrop of local authority funding struggling to keep pace.

“Central Government investment has never been more critical, alongside a long-term workforce plan akin to that of the NHS to ensure social care is a desirable sector to join and remain a part of.

“With more people now expected to return to work, as part of the Government’s economic growth plan, there will be new opportunities for our domestic workforce to grow.”

Meanwhile, the Children’s Charities Coalition, which includes Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, National Children’s Bureau and NSPCC, said young people are being “left behind in the UK” as they urged a significant investment in children’s social care.

The organisation said: “Rising numbers of children and families are finding themselves in a desperate situation, trapped in the children’s social care system, which is increasingly turning away from early intervention and focusing on helping those that have reached breaking point.

“The Chancellor could have used the autumn statement to tackle this destructive cycle with a commitment to significant investment in children’s social care and it is deeply disappointing he didn’t seize the opportunity.”

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