NCF Member Briefing 10.11.23
Reforming Adult Social Care in England
Earlier today, the National Audit Office published its report on the government's progress towards reforming adult social care - it's pretty damning.
The report confirms what many already knew – the majority of the reforms have been reprioritised with 58% of the £1.7bn system reform money being reallocated and the entirety of the £3.6bn charging reforms being delayed until after a general election. Even after these reprioritisations, there has been desperately limited progress in other areas. The NAO report shows that funding to integrate and improve housing was scrapped, while funding for workforce measures was halved and progress on the workforce pathway and training, learning and development offer apparently delayed. The report also lays bare the flaws of the fair cost of care exercises and reveals that DHSC thinks that the exercises overstate the gap between what the state pays and the actual cost of providing care (see paragraph 3.16-3.18).
The King's Speech
Earlier this week the government's legislative agenda for the remainder of this parliament was outlined in the King's Speech. You can also find an easy read here.
The focus of the government’s programme will be on tackling inflation and boosting economic growth and quite pointedly states that this will be the priority ‘over demands for greater spending or borrowing.’ The legislation and measures announced are largely focused on incentivising new technologies and industries, such as AI and autonomous vehicles, securing more trade and freedoms from Brexit, watering down previous net zero pledges by allowing new oil and gas fields to be licensed alongside measures to encourage investment in renewable energy sources, housing and renting reforms, and several pieces of legislation on law and order, including measures to stop politically motivated boycotts of foreign countries by public bodies. Also mentioned in the speech were commitments to cut the NHS waiting list by delivering an NHSE workforce plan and introducing minimum service levels to minimise strike action. Commitments to reforming welfare and supporting people back into work were also mentioned but no specific legislation outlined – we anticipate something in the Autumn Statement instead.
Perhaps more interesting is what wasn’t included in the speech. The Mental Health Act (Reform) Bill appears to have been dropped. This was a long overdue piece of legislation, supported by a number of our members, that would have ended the sectioning of people with a learning disability or autistic people when they don’t have a mental health illness.
Also excluded was any legislation or initiative to restrict the use of tents by people experiencing homelessness – this appears to have been dropped after the public backlash to the Home Secretary’s comments.
There was also no mention of the government’s intention to put visiting in care homes, hospitals and hospices on a legal footing – this was something DHSC consulted on over the summer, considering whether to introduce primary or secondary legislation. It looks like primary legislation has been ruled out, but it is possible there could still be secondary legislation.
Finally, measures that would have restricted councils from imposing low traffic neighbourhoods, low emission zones and lower speed limits also appear to have been dropped.
This is a King’s Speech clearly designed with the next election in mind, and what is possible to deliver before then that the government thinks will resonate with voters, majoring on law and order, economic growth, support for Israel and Ukraine, and reducing illegal migration. The Autumn Statement on 22 November will undoubtedly build on these themes, and we anticipate that we’ll hear a lot more about measures to get people back into work, tackle long-term sickness, welfare reform, and cut NHS waiting lists while controlling public spending. NCF will have a briefing available for members once the Chancellor has delivered it.
Formal Launch of Environmental Sustainability Member Network
On the 9th November, we formally launched our Environmental Sustainability Network at an event on Growing a Greener Future at St Monica Trust's Chocolate Quarter Retirement Village in Keynsham.
As well as supporting member organisations embarking on journeys towards sustainability with resources, peer-learning, and the sharing of data and knowledge during regular forum meetings, NCF will be working to understand how to embed green policies into its own internal strategies and operations. NCF is also advocating for greater support from the government to facilitate the greening of the sector, both funding and other resources, as well as push for research in environmental sustainability for social care to support best evidence based, value for money practice.
NCF members interested in joining the network can email valeriia.zemtsova@nationalcareforum.org.uk.
ADASS Autumn Survey 2023
ADASS has published the first part of its autumn survey report earlier today. The report found that:
Nearly two-thirds of adult directors of adult social care did not feel that step up intermediate care was widely available.
Just under half of directors report that there is only limited availability of preventative services focussed on reducing the number of avoidable admissions in their local areas.
Two in five social care directors report that there is limited availability of timely information, advice and support in their local areas.
70% of directors report that frontline adult social care staff are increasingly undertaking tasks that were previously delivered by NHS staff on an unfunded basis.
97% of directors indicated that increased provision of specialist housing or extra care accommodation designed for people with dementia in their local areas would make some or a significant different to outcomes for people.
Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee has published its report into Supported Housing.
The recommendations include:
Within six months of publishing the new snapshot of data on supporting housing, DLUHC should write to the Committee setting out how central government is maximising efforts to get supply of supported housing to meet demand, for example, through the Affordable Homes Programme.
Alongside its Treasury Minute response, DLUHC should write to the Committee outlining progress with its consultation with local authorities and set out its early thinking on how it intends to support them to implement the Act effectively, improve short-term supported housing and protect vulnerable residents.
In the Treasury Minute response to this report, DLUHC and DWP should summarise what they are currently doing, along with plans for future work, to radically improve and keep up to date, their data on demand, supply, and costs of supported housing while minimising the burden on local authorities.
DLUHC should assess how local authorities can set up licensing schemes with appropriate levels of fees that will deter poor providers and encourage good quality supported housing.
Within six months, DWP should inform the Committee about how it intends to identify the level of fraud in Housing Benefit for supported housing and how it will better support local authorities, including funding, to tackle this fraud.
As part of the consultation with local authorities on the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, DWP should consider how to reduce subsidy loss, and then implement solutions.
Health in an Ageing Society
Professor Chris Whitty has published his annual report which recommends actions to improve the quality of life for older adults.
For a report on such a subject, it's surprising there only one small section on social care in the report. The report fails to completely see the potential of adult social care, if invested in properly, to build resilient communities, population health and boost the economy. Nevertheless, it is good to see the recommendation for social care to be a core component of health research programmes.
Funding for non NHS-organisations for one-off payments
You may have seen the announcement earlier this week that 'eligible' non-NHS organisations, including charities and social enterprises can apply for funding to deliver one-off payments to staff, worth at least £1,655. This seems to be in response to threats of legal action for some staff not included in the NHS pay award.
We are not exactly sure what the eligibility is and are exploring whether some of our members may be able to make use of this.