The government must measure the ‘true cost of inaction’ within social care or future reforms will be ‘doomed to fail’, a committee of influential MPs has warned.
A new report from the Health and Social Care Committee today suggested the government lacked official data related to the social care sector and that ministers do not know what the potential monetary benefits of a reformed system might be.
The committee warned that a ‘broken’ social care system was harming those who need care, those delivering care, the NHS and the wider economy, and it urged the government to commission research to ‘fully quantify the cost of continued inaction’ within the sector.
It also flagged that care workers continued to be ‘underpaid’ and that the situation was ‘driving high turnover and vacancy rates’.
The report comes as the government’s commission of the sector – known as the Casey Commission – got underway last week.
Related Article: Independent commission into adult social care gets underway
The commission aims to set out a plan for the implementation of a national care service as well as wider reforms to the adult social care sector in England.
However, in its report today, the Health and Social Care Committee warned the commission would be at risk unless there was ‘robust understanding at the centre of government about the cost of “doing nothing”.’
The committee outlined some of the ‘unaccounted-for costs of inaction’ within social care, including:
- Two million people aged 65+ and 1.5 million people of working-age are not getting the care they need;
- Individuals face unknowable, and potentially life-changing, charges for care, including one in seven older people with care costs over £100,000;
- Care workers continue to be underpaid, driving high turnover and vacancy rates, and are twice as likely to be claiming benefits;
- 1.5 million unpaid carers are providing over 50 hours of care per week to loved ones;
- Councils are seeking emergency funding and increasing proportions of budgets are being spent on adult social care to the detriment of other services;
- The care provider market is struggling to cover existing costs via fees and facing underfunded increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance;
- The NHS struggles to divert admissions from the community and to discharge medically fit patients, causing knock-on costs of at least £1.89 billion, putting at risk the mission to build an NHS fit for the future;
Source: Health and Social Care Committee
‘But this is an active choice that is no longer tenable. We are living with a broken social care system.’
She stressed the system was ‘not providing adequate care to the people who need it’ and ‘creating ever-increasing costs for local authorities and the NHS’.
‘Inaction, and the current state of affairs, are harming those who need care, the people delivering care, the NHS, local government, the Treasury, and the economy,’ warned Ms Moran.
‘But there is another side to the coin. The social care sector is rarely, if ever, discussed as a driver of economic activity, but it has enormous potential to contribute to the government’s wider agenda on economic growth and employment.’
Related Article: How could future nurses use robots to help deliver care?
The government needs ‘solid data’ on the sector, she said, adding: ‘Our inquiry has found that there is currently a severe lack of granular, numerical data on many aspects of the social care system.
‘The Department of Health and Social Care needs to commission research on the costs that the NHS and the wider economy are bearing as a result of failures in adult social care.
‘Unless the government measures the true cost of inaction and can make a convincing case to the Treasury, the recommended reforms that come out of the Casey Commission will be doomed to fail.’
Responding to the report, care minister Stephen Kinnock said the government had ‘hit the ground running’ when it comes to social care.
He described how Labour had inherited a system ‘in crisis’ but took ‘immediate action’ as part of its Plan for Change which he said included a ‘Fair Pay Agreement’ for care workers.
Related Article: Final NICE falls guideline opens up for range of professionals to do home assessments
‘A lot has been done, but we know there is so much more to do and deep reform is needed,’ he said.
‘That’s why we appointed Baroness Louise Casey to lead the independent commission working to transcend party politics and build consensus on the future of adult social care, with her first report out next year.’
Today’s 68-page report also sets out several wider recommendations for the government in relation to the social care sector, including on the workforce, delayed discharges and sector costs.
