Policy Updates 10th August 2022
The following policy updates have been curated from the week commencing 10th August 2022.
Please find attached a Level 3 (amber) Heat-Health Alert - Hot Weather Alert and Heat-Health Planning Advice issued by the Met Office. The regional risk assessment for South West England is a 90% chance of heat-health criteria being met in the next 1-5 day and 70% in the next 6-15 days.
Long-term funding of adult social care
Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:
“This report echoes the repeated calls of Care England that significantly more central funding is required immediately for adult social care to meet the widely reported immediate and longer-term financial pressures facing the sector. While this Government pledged to ‘fix’ social care, it is clear that in reality, this is far from having been achieved. Against a backdrop of increasing workforce pressures, inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis, the sector finds itself in a more precarious position than ever before. The recommendations of this report represent the latest in a raft of publications which demonstrates that without intervention, adult social care providers will not be able to meet the needs of society’s most vulnerable.”
The Committee’s report outlines that:
The Government should extend the Infection Control Fund for as long as the public health situation requires it to advise care workers to self-isolate with Covid-19.
The Government should allocate additional funding this year through the adult social care grant, to cover inflationary pressures and unmet care needs, and should announce this as soon as possible so that local authorities can plan how to cope best with the pressures they are facing.
There is a large funding gap in adult social care that needs filling.
The Government urgently needs to allocate more funding to adult social care in the order of several billion each year, at least £7 billion.
Private care providers should be compensated for employer National Insurance Contributions to the Health and Social Care Levy.
The Government currently has nothing more than a vision, with no roadmap, no timetable, no milestones, and no measures of success.
The Government should publish a 10-year strategy for the adult social care workforce.
The Government’s guidance for fair cost of care exercises should require councils and providers to move towards pay rates for care workers that align with the NHS and that reward more senior staff with meaningfully higher pay than entry-level workers.
The Government should monitor the impact of adding care workers to the Shortage Occupation List on vacancies and be prepared to extend the visa period beyond 12 months, to lower the salary threshold, or both.
Martin Green continues:
“Immediate action is required to ensure adult social care providers can withstand the unexpected pressures caused by rising inflation, not accounted for in previous uplifts and budgeting. With Winter on the horizon, the situation will only become more challenging over the coming months. The sector desperately needs Government support to navigate this precarious period, including the injection of funding recommended in today’s report. We would implore the incoming Prime Minister to meet the recommendations of this report within the first one-hundred days of their tenure.”
Wider Stakeholder News
Post Graduate Certificate in Dementia Studies, Association for Dementia Studies (ADS), University of Worcester
In September we hope to welcome many new students to the Post Graduate Certificate in Dementia Studies, or one of the Modules associated with the course.
You can help by contacting colleagues who may have an interest and encourage them to watch this short film https://youtu.be/ofYrLaW0xN4
The attached publicity leaflet and webpages for the course provide more information. The course website is also where you apply for the course: https://www.worcester.ac.uk/courses/person-centred-dementia-studies-pg-cert
The course leader, Dr Chris Russell c.russell@worc.ac.uk is also happy to be contacted if you have any questions.
The summer flies by, now is the time for those interested to apply.
New fully online course from the ADS: Championing physical activity for people affected by dementia
This online course will develop your knowledge and confidence in facilitating physical activity for people affected by dementia. You will have the opportunity to learn from experts in the dementia and physical activity fields, as well as hear directly from the those with lived experience of dementia. See flyer for more information: https://www.worcester.ac.uk/documents/CPA-flyer-v1.pdf
Who is it for?
Anyone working with people living with dementia or family carers. You might work in sport, leisure, housing, health, care, or community-based services.
Programme:
The course will run across 8 weeks starting in Autumn 2022. There will be live and interactive sessions with the course tutor(s), as well as a multitude of resources to support learning and practice.
Contact:
Please contact Dr Chris Russell for full details of the session dates and how to register (01905 542635 or c.russell@worc.ac.uk)
Fixing Social Care: A call to action for the new PM
Care England, the largest and most diverse representative body for independent providers of adult social care in England, has written to Conservative leadership candidates Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP and Rt Hon Liz Truss MP calling for a commitment to ‘fix’ the key issues facing the social care sector within the first one-hundred days of entering office. Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says: “Despite repeated promises from Government that they would ‘fix’ adult social care, the sector finds itself in unprecedented circumstances. The immediate financial pressures facing the sector, amid a backdrop of rising energy prices, inflation, and a cost-of-living crisis, as well as long-term issues caused by decades of neglect and chronic underfunding, necessitate considerable and immediate action. It is vital that the leadership candidates understand the severity of these issues and the need to address them as a matter of urgency.”
Care England
What to do when the press write negative stories about your care home
How best to respond if the press publish negative articles about your care homes is to be revealed in a free webinar run by specialist care PR and marketing agency Springup PR. The 30-minute webinar on Friday, 5 August at 1:30pm is for care operators wanting to know what to do if the regional or national media approach you with the aim of writing critical articles about your homes. The webinar, entitled ‘How to respond (and how not to respond) if the press write negative things about your care homes’, will be hosted by Springup PR’s founder and former award-winning journalist Adam James.
Care Home Professional
Sector needs funding and long-term plan
The adult social care sector needs immediate funding and a long-term plan, says the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) Committee. The Government needs to come forward with additional funding this year to help the adult social care sector meet immediate pressures, including inflation and unmet care needs, according to the cross-party Committee in a report published today. Examining the Government’s charging reforms and local government finance, unpaid carers and workforce challenges, the report says the 'message rang clear throughout our inquiry: the adult social care sector does not have enough funding either in the here and now, or in the longer-term'.
Care Management Matters
Urgent action needed to fix social care crisis and ease knock-on effects on NHS
Responding to a new Association of Directors of Adult Social Services survey showing growing waiting lists for care assessments, the director of policy and strategy and interim deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said: "This is yet another disturbing report highlighting the worrying state of social care and the urgent need to properly fund and reform the sector. "The growing number of people waiting, many for more than six months, to have their needs assessed is just unacceptable. "Long delays to assessments not only mean hold-ups to people getting the care they need, but add to the knock-on effects of wider pressures in social care on the flow of patients through the NHS.”
NHS Providers
Living Wage in Social Care Toolkit
With almost three-quarters of care workers in England earning below the real Living Wage, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for care workers to be paid a real Living Wage.
The commitment of social care providers and local authorities commissioning care to the Living Wage accreditation has resulted in over 7,000 pay rises in social care during the pandemic. There have been more pay rises in social care during the pandemic alone than over the last 10 years in total. So far, the real Living Wage in adult social care has put over £36 million back into the pockets of care workers.
The toolkit has drawn evidence from Middlesex University Business School’s research report: ‘Living Wage Implementation in Adult Social Care: challenges, solutions and benefits’. The research report written by Dr Andrea Werner is based on interviews with care providers and local authorities commissioning care, as well as care workers. The report highlights challenges, solutions and benefits of implementing the real Living Wage in social care and makes recommendations for care providers, local authorities and decision makers.
If you have any questions about implementing the Living Wage in social care, please do get in touch accreditation@livingwage.org.uk.
Download(s):
Research Report - Werner A - Living Wage in Adult Social Care.pdf
Living Wage in Social Care Toolkit.pdf
Regards,
Peter Webb
LCAS Forum
T: 01932 355598
M: 07956 878901