£600 million Social Care winter workforce and capacity boost

THE Government has unveiled a £600 million package to help with recruitment and retention in Social Care. The fund will support the Social Care workforce and boost capacity in Social Care, in turn supporting the NHS ahead of winter and through into 2024.

This week the Care Minister is also writing to Local Authorities about preparations for winter, and NHS England has written to NHS organisations encouraging contingency planning to prepare for winter demands on the health service. The Government is encouraging local health and care systems to prepare jointly for the winter months earlier this year, increasing resilience and preparedness for seasonal viruses such as flu or Covid.

The £600 million funding for adult Social Care includes a £570 million workforce fund over 2 years, distributed to Local Authorities and £30 million funding for Local Authorities in the most challenged health systems. This funding follows the Social Care workforce reforms announced earlier this year, and works, alongside the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, to build a stronger overall foundation for the health and Social Care workforce. It will help to improve recruitment and retention, boost workforce capacity and ensure a sustainable Social Care workforce fit for the future. A stronger care system will better meet care needs around the country and support the NHS for future winters, preventing admission to hospital and helping people to be discharged from hospital more quickly, cutting waiting times for A&E and ambulances.

Minister for Care, Helen Whately said:- "Hundreds of thousands of older people, disabled people and their carers depend day in, day out on our Social Care workforce. Care workers deserve a brighter spotlight to recognise and support what they do. That's why we're reforming Social Care careers and backing our brilliant care workforce with millions in extra funding. Our workforce reforms will help more people pursue rewarding careers in Social Care with nationally recognised qualifications. Our investment in Social Care means more funding to go to the front line. This matters, because support for our care workforce is the key to more care and better care. A stronger Social Care system, hand in hand with our NHS, will help people get the care they need, when and where they need it."

The multi million pound investment will deliver tangible improvements to care and support services, benefitting millions working in or supported by care. It builds on progress the Government has already made on workforce reforms set out in the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan; backed by an initial £250million; which will enable better recognition of Social Care as a profession.

This includes ultimately working towards flexible, integrated career pathways between health and Social Care, in-line with the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Melanie Weatherley MBE, Chair of Care Association Alliance said:- "We are delighted to welcome the announcement of additional funding to support the adult Social Care workforce. It is particularly pleasing that this support covers 2 years, enabling the sector to develop effective longer-term initiatives."

Cllr Martin Tett, County Councils Network Spokesperson for Adult Social Care said:- "The County Councils Network (CCN) very much welcomes this timely announcement by the Government. The network called for this remaining funding to be provided directly to Councils as soon as possible to help tackle additional inflationary costs and demand pressures which are impacting Social Care services this year and next. With funding split over 2 years this will help Councils mitigate some of the financial and workforce pressures over the next 18 months. It is also positive that the funding will be distributed through the existing Market Sustainability & Improvement Fund without further administrative burdens."

Oonagh Smyth, CEO of Skills for Care, said:- "Support for Local Authorities to improve capacity in Social Care will help ensure that we can attract and keep more of the right people with the right skills. This is vitally important because our latest figures show that there were around 152,000 vacancies on any given day in 2022-23. Improved capacity ultimately means a better experience for the people who draw on care and support."

Alongside NHSE's letter to the NHS, DHSC has issued letters to local adult Social Care systems and providers to share the Government's priorities for adult Social Care this winter, and to highlight the key actions local systems and care providers should take to protect individuals, their carers and the sector as a whole. This is to ensure a 'whole system' approach is taken to plan for the colder months and put adult Social Care on as firm a footing as possible ahead of winter this year.

Of the £600 million from the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan, £570 million will be given to Local Authorities as 'flexible' funding to allow them to tailor it to benefit local needs. This could be by increasing the fees given to care providers, which will enable better pay for care workers, driving tangible improvements to Social Care for those who draw on it, or reduce pressures on the health system by increasing the capacity of Social Care and helping to bolster the sector ahead of winter.

In addition, as part of the Government's initiative to improve care for everyone across the country, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has today launched a new £10 million per year funding programme focused on Social Care research. The Research Programme for Social Care will collect information on the people at the heart of care, providing Government and the sector with clear paths on how they can improve, expand and strengthen Social Care for people in need of care, carers, the Social Care workforce, and the public.

The new programme aligns with the department's new innovation and improvement unit, which is working with sector partners to establish clear priorities for innovation and research across adult Social Care. When fully established, the unit will look at how research can inform all aspects of policymaking and delivery of care across the sector, to ensure we learn from best practice and promote new approaches to care that can improve outcomes for the people at the heart of it.

Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund - Workforce Fund

CARE England, the largest and most diverse representative body for independent providers of adult Social Care, has today welcomed the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund; Workforce Fund.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:- "The Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund (MSIF) represents a step in the right direction for the Social Care sector. The 1st MSIF in 2022 was aimed at increasing Social Care workforce capacity and retention, reducing Social Care wait times and increasing fee rates paid to Social Care providers. We know there was success following the reporting of the initial grant, and so welcome this grant as a further measure to support the Social Care sector in the same way in a time of extreme hardship but must acknowledge that it will not fix Social Care."

The Government has today, 28 July 2023, unveiled a £600 million package to help with recruitment and retention in Social Care. The fund will support the Social Care workforce and boost capacity in Social Care, in turn supporting the NHS ahead of winter and through into next year.

The £600 million funding for adult Social Care includes a £570 million workforce fund over 2 years, distributed to Local Authorities and £30 million funding for Local Authorities in the most challenged health systems.

To supplement the MSIF announcement, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has also published a letter to colleagues across Social Care to outline the key steps that are needed so adult Social Care systems are resilient and able to provide support to those who need it this winter and stating that Local Authorities should:- "work closely with providers to use the £570 million funding to grow workforce capacity, for example, by investing in improved pay for people who work in care."

The letter also sets out the DHSC's expectations for how NHS organisations can work with adult Social Care for the planning and delivery of support. The funding for this will be the £30m left over from the total £600m promised by the DHSC, with the remaining £570 assigned to the MSIF workforce fund.

Martin Green continues:- "Once again, the Government require a great deal from a relatively small pot of funding. This fund cannot be relied upon to remedy Social Care pressures alone. The £570m promised over 2 years equates to a mere 10p per hour pay rise for the Social Care workforce. The funding suggests a focus on workforce pay, ensuring appropriate short-term and intermediate care is available to reduce avoidable admissions, supporting discharge of patients from hospital, and making tangible improvements to adult Social Care capacity. The requirements of the fund are vast. None of this is possible with 10p an hour per member of the care workforce. This is a far cry from the additional £4 per hour needed and will not tackle the sustained shortage of funding from central Government to Local Authorities. Local Authorities are currently required to work miracles to support the workforce, increase capacity and pay care providers more. The DHSC also said the funding will work alongside the NHS Long Term Workforce plan to build a stronger overall foundation for the health and Social Care workforce. There must be recognition that this injection of funding is by no means a substitute for an equivalent long-term plan for Social Care. The fortunes of the NHS and the adult Social Care sector are fundamentally intertwined. Without addressing the issues inherently embedded within our sector through additional long-term funding commitments, the ambition to reduce avoidable admissions and support the discharge of patients from hospital, will remain an ambition rather than an actuality. Ahead of winter, we would implore the DHSC to listen to the sector. We do not want to repeat the same issues we encounter year after year during the winter months. This fund should serve as a watershed moment to be ambitious and move towards an integrated system that serves to benefit us all."