Labour urges Government to bring forward promised spending on social care

Ministers would ease the social care system “funding crisis” by urgently bringing forward the date they intend to spend millions of pounds on services, Labour has said.

Shadow health minister Barbara Keeley said cash has been promised from 2018/19 following six years of cuts to local authority budgets.

But she warned the Government against ignoring the latest appeal to ensure this money is available sooner, with her remarks coming ahead of next week’s Autumn Statement.

The Opposition also wants a longer-term funding settlement outlined by ministers which will develop a “sustainable” social care system to help the most vulnerable people in society.

Speaking during a Labour-led debate, Ms Keeley said: “The bulk of the extra funding that the Government promised for social care from the Better Care Fund comes in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

“So we have had six years of cuts to local authority budgets and the extra funding promised for social care is backloaded to those later years in this Parliament.”

Ms Keeley added: “Seeing what was happening to social care the Local Government Association and the Directors of Adult Social Services appealed before the last Autumn Statement for £700 million of that promised Better Care funding to be moved forward to this year and next year.

“That appeal was ignored.

“Reacting to that, Ray James – of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services – said ‘Ministers must know that their proposals do not deliver sufficient funding to meet the growing number of old and disabled people requiring increasingly complex care and support. The council tax precept will raise least money in areas of greatest need, which risks heightening inequality. Councils in deprived areas will have the greatest social care needs yet they will raise less than one third of what more affluent areas do through this approach’.

“He went on ‘We don’t believe the funding for the next couple of years will anywhere near meet the costs of the national living wage and the demand for social care’.”

Ms Keeley said keeping patients in hospital longer than necessary can have several “detrimental” effects, with long stays having an impact on morale and mobility.

Ms Keeley said six years of funding cuts have led to “a disturbing deterioration in the state of social care”.

Former shadow health minster Liz Kendall said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is “living in cloud cuckoo land”.

She said: “There is a funding crisis, we won’t solve it unless he admits that there is a crisis.

“You cannot continue in this denial or have a Prime Minister who constantly says the NHS and social care has got the funding they need.

“We need cross-party agreement on this long term issue, but first he has got to acknowledge there is a problem.”

Labour MP Madeleine Moon (Bridgend) said she has had “repeated complaints” about the 15 minute calls which councils have been forced to introduce because of cuts.

She said: “This means that people literally run in, neglect the person, and if you can’t communicate or if your mobility is poor the quality of your care is appalling.”

Mr Hunt said the Government has taken great strides in trying to lift the standards of care.

He said it is a “hallmark of a civilised society that we treat all older citizens with dignity and respect”.

And Mr Hunt said he “totally disapproves” of the 15-minute visits which are simply not long enough to care for someone.

He said: “I absolutely want to be someone in this role who confronts poor care and does everything possible to fight for the highest standards of care. That’s exactly why I am doing the job.

“And poor care comes in different forms, and, yes, funding is an issue and I particularly want to make sure that as the health and social care system goes through perhaps their most challenging period financially since the founding of the NHS, that we do protect those very high standards of care.”

Tory MP Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire) said: “The Government has rightly allocated money via the Better Care Fund but we really, really can’t wait until the end of the Parliament.

“We need to do all we can to bring that money forward now, and the precept isn’t enough even if every council out there had taken that offer up – it would have generated £380 million, not the £1 billion shortfall.

“So we need to bring that funding forward and it will provide an immediate uplift to councils to pay care workers an appropriate wage, but we should be looking hand in glove at how care is given – based on time spent, not tasks.

“And that means proper time – I want to see an end to these 15-minute slots.

“Our country is more civilised than that, and cutting corners now means more costs later on.”

Labour’s Melanie Onn (Great Grimsby) said she knew of wheelchair-bound residents in her constituency who had waited more than two years for an automatic release button on the door out of their flat to be fixed.

She added: “At the moment, until a carer comes to visit, they’re effectively trapped in their own home, and that’s an unacceptable position to leave people in.”

Tory Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle), meanwhile, said too many care homes were rated either inadequate or requiring improvement by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

“I believe if our local schools were failing in the same way, then there would be outrage,” he said.

“That our often vulnerable residents, often without a voice, are being subject to this standard is a national disgrace I believe should not be tolerated.”

Labour’s motion – which called for the Government to bring forward extra funding for social care – was defeated by 279 votes to 200 majority 79.

A Government amendment welcoming the new social care precept, which enables local authorities to raise extra funding for social care through extra council tax, among other things, was approved unopposed.

Tories shot down radical reform of social care with electioneering, Burnham says

Andy Burnham has accused the Tories of killing any radical reform to social care when former health secretary Lord Lansley leaked details of cross-party talks.

Mr Burnham (pictured), who served as health secretary in the last Labour government, said Tory claims in the run-up to the 2010 general election had a “chilling” and “deadening” effect on reforming the cash-strapped system.

He was supported by Tory MP Dan Poulter, an NHS doctor, who said it was no longer possible to have a rational debate about funding health and social care through taxation.

Mr Burnham told a Commons debate on social care funding that the Labour government had been moving towards the idea of a National Care Service, to better integrate health and social care.

Mr Burnham added that late in 2009, then shadow health secretary Lord Lansley approached him for talks about the future of the health and social care systems.

Mr Burnham said the two parties disagreed on the best route to proceed, adding: “But that’s where we left it, until a bombshell in February 2010 at this – now Gordon (Brown) wants you to pay £20,000 before you die.

“I remember the day it landed very vividly. I was told Andy Coulson put pressure on Andrew Lansley to do it and he didn’t really want to, but he felt he couldn’t really say no.

“I don’t know whether that’s true. What I do know is that the Conservative Party that asked me for cross-party talks betrayed the confidence that I gave, and they have never seen fit to apologise for that.

“The point is not the personal, political damage that that did. It’s the chilling effect that poster had on the social care debate.

“Instantly, it killed any talk of radical reform and actually it had a deadening effect on it for the rest of the Parliament that followed.”

Later in the debate, Mr Burnham said he was still in favour of an “all-in system”, adding: “I favour a system where we would ask older people to pay a set contribution so that they have peace of mind in later life, and all of their care costs are covered.”

Mr Burnham found support on the Government benches from Dr Poulter, who said: “Would he agree with me that the chilling effect of the outcome of those conversations before the election, and perhaps as he put it the betrayal of that confidence, is that there can now no longer be a rational conversation about properly funding a health and care system through any form of taxation?

“That is perhaps the great problem that has emerged, and perhaps to fix this problem is through general taxation.”

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