Labour scraps planned investment in social care workforce

Care minister Stephen Kinnock announced this week that the Department of Health and Social Care would not continue with plans to introduce an adult social care training and development fund.

“So far what we have seen is consistent with social care continuing to play poor relation to the NHS”

Natasha Curry

The fund was put forward by the previous Conservative government to upskill the adult social care workforce in England, as part of a move to improve recruitment and retention in the sector.

It comes as there are more than 152,000 vacancies in adult social care across the country.

The adult social care training and development fund would have provided more than £50m to support 37,000 people through a new level 2 adult social care certificate qualification by March 2025.

In addition, it would have supplemented the cost of continuing professional development for revalidation of registered social care staff, including nurses. The previous government did not confirm how much this would be.

Mr Kinnock said in his statement that the plans would not be taken forward due to the need to “manage down overall fiscal pressures in 2024-25”.

The announcement comes just weeks after a new social care workforce plan was published by Skills for Care, which highlighted the need for government investment in social care career progression.

Mr Kinnock said in his statement that the government would still provide funding for adult social care learning and development “with the budget maintained at the level we spent last year”.

Further details about how and when this would be set out would be “shared in due course”, he noted.

Mr Kinnock also confirmed that the government would continue to develop a care workforce pathway for adult social care and that the new level 2 care certificate qualification had been launched.

He added: “We are committed in our support for the adult social care workforce.

“Our long-term plans will include a new deal for care workers through a fair pay agreement.”

In addition, he said the goverment would “take steps” to create a National Care Service.

This is the second social care plan that has been scrapped in just one week by the new government.

“This government has delivered two severe blows to the care sector and has sent a clear signal that care is not one of their top priorities”

Martin Green

The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Monday (29 July) that adult social care charging reforms would not go ahead.

The reforms, due to be implemented in October 2025, would have set an £86,000 lifetime limit on how much individuals pay for their care.

In her audit into public finances, Ms Reeves announced several other public service cuts, including a pause on the New Hospital Programme which aimed to build 40 new hospitals by 2030.

She said the cuts were in direct response to a £20bn “black hole” in the government’s budget.

Responding to the cuts, Nuffield Trust deputy director of policy, Natasha Curry, said: “Taking away limited funding that had been set aside for upskilling and training much-needed social care staff looks desperately shortsighted and is a significant blow for the sector.

“This, taken on top of the indefinite delay to a cap on social care costs announced by the chancellor, looks like yet another troubling decision to deprioritise social care in order to plug gaps in health funding.”

Ms Curry argued that plans to implement a care career pathway and encourage uptake of the new qualification would “remain mere aspirations unless dedicated investment underpins them”.

She added: “The new government states that it is committed to the workforce and long-term plans for social care reform.

“We now need to see concrete action to reassure that these promises are not simply rhetoric.

“Sadly, so far what we have seen is consistent with social care continuing to play poor relation to the NHS.”

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Care England, Martin Green, also criticised the planned cuts.

He said: “In less than three weeks, this government has delivered two severe blows to the care sector and has sent a clear signal that care is not one of their top priorities.

“Government ministers seem incapable of understanding that if they neglect social care, their plans for the NHS will fail.

“The new government has missed an opportunity to show their support for the social care workforce, and this announcement is a variance with the prime minister’s commitment to skills development across the UK.”

Also responding to the announcement, the chief executive of Skills for Care, Oonagh Smyth, said: “While we understand the financial pressures the Government is facing, we were disappointed to hear the announcement about the adult social care training and development fund.

“We’ve offered to support the government in any way we can to ensure the sector can access the promised continuing funding as quickly as possible.

“Being able to access quality learning and development is vital for ensuring the people working in social care have the skills to provide the best possible care and support – and we also know from our data that it encourages people to stay in their jobs and the sector.”