The pressure is starting to work
For twenty years, politicians have ignored social care. In the last fortnight, three of them broke ranks to talk about it loudly.
That’s three signs that the pressure is starting to build.
The Home Office is now openly divided over care workers
This week, Home Office minister Mike Tapp wrote a piece for The Times saying that care workers already living and working here should not be made to wait longer for leave to remain, and that it would be wrong to move the goalposts on people who came here in good faith to look after our loved ones.
12-months ago, it would have been unthinkable that a minister would publicly side with care workers against his own Government.
Yet, his boss at the Home Office has called for him to be sacked. For what – standing up for what’s right and fair? Standing up for the care workers who are keeping our sector going?
Make sure your MP knows you care about this. It takes just 30 seconds to contact them with a pre-written letter via the campaign website: https://careaboutcare.org/emailyourmp/
A former Deputy PM joined the call for change.
Angela Rayner stood up at a public rally and called the same plan "un-British." But she didn't stop at immigration. She called on the Government to do things this campaign has been demanding for months: raise care workers' pay and end the rule that traps migrant carers with a single employer and leaves them open to exploitation.
And the new MP for Makerfield has put care at the centre of his platform.
Andy Burnham, sworn in as MP this week and the most-discussed politician in the country right now, talked about social care from his campaign launch onwards. “The need to fix social care is urgent. I wouldn’t flinch from it.”
Senior political figures putting care on the public agenda is exactly what Care About Care has been fighting for.
But that’s only half the battle.
Mr Burnham, and everyone who follows him, will need to be held to those words. The pressure is working. The noises from Westminster suggest change might be coming. But only if we keep pushing. Only if we seize this moment.
Only if you help make a difference today.
Add your name today to the open letter to Andy Burnham, the man who may be the next Prime Minister.
https://careaboutcare.org/dear-andy/
Write to your MP. We’ve created a letter for you to send, we just need your name and postcode so we can match you to your local MP.
https://careaboutcare.org/emailyourmp/
And, most importantly, get your friends, family, colleagues, and team members involved today. Share this email. Share the campaign website in WhatsApp groups, and do what you can to get the people you know involved.
More letters. More supporters. More pressure. More chance of change finally coming.
Remember what we’re fighting for – a £625/yr pay rise for care workers, a fair funding settlement for the sector, and investment in the local care providers that drive growth in their local communities.
You can help make that a reality by backing the campaign today.
The Care About Care team