Adult Social Care and the Budget: Press release from Care England

Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has responded to the latest report from the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

Professor Martin Green OBE Chief Executive for Care England says:

"This influential Select Committee carried out extensive hearings and collated a lot of information. The conclusion of its report cannot be disputed; the Government needs to stem the financial crisis in adult social care by an immediate cash injection followed by a longer term plan. Care England calls upon the Treasury to use the Budget as a means to put social care on a proper safe footing and then continue to work with the sector to implement the necessary reforms".

The CLG Select Committee conducted its inquiry into adult social care in 2016-17. The Report, Adult Social Care: A Pre-Budget Report, published on 4 March, draws together the evidence gathered over four months into the sustainability of local authority social care and the quality of care provided. The final report is expected next month. Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, gave oral evidence to the Committee as did a wide range of witnesses from carers and people who receive local authority funded social care to local authorities, care providers and NHS representatives.

Martin Green continues:

"Expectations from citizens have risen. They experience health and social care as a continuum and the current financial challenges make the delivery of such expectations untenable. Government policy needs to shift to ensure that the system is fit for purpose and provides what citizens need and want. At present the system is too crisis based as opposed to enabling. This in turn disempowers people to manage their own care. Combined with this, the demographic changes mean that the current system is unsustainable. Tax payers are simply not getting value for money".