Keychange watched with interest and hope as the Prime Minster spoke from his heart and his experience about the social care sector yesterday. We welcome the opportunities presented by the Big Conversation on Care, the acceleration of the Casey Commission, the attention given to supporting and developing the care workforce and the commitment to cross-party conversations to achieve impact.
We listen to families every day who are living with the impact of ageing, dementia, and the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis, as we provide person-led and whole-person care to their loved ones. Our staff are motivated to provide care that enables people to have fullness of life as they grow older, through the unconditional love of a supportive community. We are fully committed to being part of the solution to the challenges within the social care sector.
As members of the National Care Forum, the leading association for not-for-profit social care, we amplify the response of NCF CEO, Vic Rayner OBE:
“We welcome the ambition [Andy Burnham] set out, including speeding up Baroness Casey’s independent commission and the commencement of cross-party talks to establish a commitment to the future of adult social care that transcends party politics. He recognised the broken cycle of research, review, repeat of the last thirty years and promised action. The big conversation that has started today will be a key element of the drive to build engagement and consensus amongst the public.
It was enormously important to hear Baroness Casey challenge profiteering within the care system, where she could not have been clearer on the Today programme… saying: ‘I don’t like the idea of profiteering out of human misery and human life. I object to that.’ Andy Burnham also highlighted that the current situation is unacceptable, pointing to profiteering and unnecessary and dangerous cost cutting.
Social care is a vital public service, paid for by citizens and the public purse. Recognising, strengthening and growing not-for-profit care and support must be central to the development of a National Care Service. Not-for-profit providers are embedded in communities and deliver support that is rooted in local relationships, accountability and social purpose.
It felt like a seminal moment to hear the Prime Minister’s positive and deeply personal contribution to today’s discussion. Too often social care is spoken about only through the lens of crisis and challenge. The PM rightly highlighted our fantastic workforce, including the incredible support provided by international colleagues. Bringing together the work on the Fair Pay Agreement and the skills agenda, he went further in his ambition to build an integrated workforce aligning health and care.
To this end, we believe a future National Care Service requires:
As Vic states in this response, with which we fully agree, “Social care is central to each and every community up and down the country, and we need to see a sustainable future that everyone can rely on. Social care matters to us all” .
At Keychange we are eagerly looking forward to fresh conversations and action taken around this important topic to transform the social care sector.
-Benjamin Downing, Keychange CEO
