Sporadic funding at the onset of Covid-19 following a decade of underinvestment left social care with an “array of weaknesses” that hampered services during the pandemic, researchers have said.
Any ambition to fix the social care sector will fail without sufficient political will to provide a sustainable long-term funding settlement, service leaders have warned.
Funding given to care homes in the first year of the pandemic led to a sharp rise in dividend payments in some large companies while staff in the sector struggled with low pay and high workloads,...
Plans to halve proposed funding to revitalise the social care workforce show the government is not serious about improving and investing in the sector, experts have said.
Delaying its controversial flagship social care policy gives the Scottish Government time to engage with councils over the reforms, local leaders have said.
Councils will be unable to meet the swelling demand for social care without additional funding to help alleviate the ongoing crisis in recruitment and retention, experts have said.
The government has been urged not to blame social care capacity for delays to hospital discharge, and to ensure the sector has enough funding to meet demand.
Government ambitions to integrate health and care services will only be achieved through successful local partnerships, working across organisations with a shared vision, writes Dr Eleanor Roy.
The government will need to spend £6bn over the next three years to help implement care reforms or risk the sector falling into a “state of collapse”, the author of an independent report has warned.
Recruitment and retention issues have led to a 3% reduction in the social care workforce – the first decline in the sector since 2012, experts have said.
Councils have been urged to give greater consideration to property ownership and asset sales before accusing residents of deliberately making themselves poorer to receive funded care, the Local...
Local authorities need additional central government funding to cover the cost of inflation and care needs to save the sector from “the brink of collapse”, a parliamentary committee has warned.
Councils will not be able to fix recruitment and retention issues afflicting social care services if they do not have enough money to ensure staff are paid properly, MPs have warned.
The cost-of-living crisis is set to exacerbate existing funding constraints for councils and the social care market, and more central government funding will be necessary to avoid a winter crisis,...
Genuine collaboration between local government, the voluntary and community sector and commercial sectors is key to ensure the successful delivery of integrated care – and ensuring better outcomes...
The upcoming national care review has been tipped as a “once-in-a-generation” chance to reform how councils support vulnerable children at risk of harm, after rising demand caused costs to increase...
The funding committed to social care bodies through Health and Social Care Levy, which went live today, is not enough to meet cost pressures and sector reforms, according to an expert.
