Thread by @blimeysimon

Another damning report on #socialcare today, this time from @CommonsLUHC: “The Government currently has nothing more than a vision [for social care], with no roadmap, no timetable, no milestones, and no measures of success.”
A thread on some key points…
committees.parliament.uk/committee/17/l…

The MPs commend the Government for “introducing reforms to the sector where previous Governments failed to act”. But they say it has “not come close to rescuing #socialcare, and needs to be open with the public that there is a long way to go.” So, a long way from being ‘fixed’.

It also urges the govt not to ignore the immediate crisis in the sector: “The Government is focused on long-term reform of adult social care, but in order to get to the future it needs to save the sector from the brink of collapse.”

How to save the sector? “Ultimately, all our lines of inquiry returned to the same fundamental point: there is a large funding gap in adult social care that needs filling.” It suggests extra funding of ‘at least’ £7bn a year, mirroring an earlier @CommonsHealth report.

The report gets forensic on the details of the govt’s reform programme. It has a chart outlining how @DHSCgovuk plans to spend £5.4bn on #socialcare reform but notes that a segment outlining spending of £1.7bn in fact only totals £1.08bn. (True, if you ignore the ‘at leasts’)

It says: “The lack of information about how the reforms add up to £5.4 billion, why each reform was allocated the amount it was allocated, and how funding will be distributed, does little to instil confidence that the Government has thought through its plans.”

There is even an acid, and quite plausible, explanation of how the #socialcare reform programme was ‘costed’, which is worth quoting in full. “First, the Treasury decided that social care would get 15% of the total levy funding (15% of £36 billion is £5.4 billion)…

“…Second, the Government estimated that £3.6 billion would be needed for charging reforms, leaving £1.7 billion over three years for adult social care reform and the Department for Health and Social Care is [now] working out what to do with it.”

This is a persistent theme of the report: that @DHSCgovuk has not yet really worked out ‘what to do’ with that money. It is particularly critical on workforce, arguing that plans so far “do not amount to a strategy”. (Given they do not address pay, that is clearly correct).

Elsewhere it has largely sensible things to say about challenges and pressures on local government, housing and integration. It has a good section on unpaid carers, arguing rightly that the govt’s earmarked £25m for reform over three years is ‘totally inadequate’.

Among its other big recommendations are for ones for govt to come forward with a 10-year plan on #socialcare and give local authorities multi-year settlements to provide stability. This is sensible, if not earth-shattering, stuff.

Will it make any difference? By itself, no. It will get a polite but dismissive response from the government within two months, as required. Still, it has to be helpful that another committee with a majority of Conservative MPs is arguing so strongly for major #socialcare change.