The Care Workers’ Charity has expressed its disappointment in the recently released Conservative Party manifesto, highlighting the limited attention given to the care sector.
Karolina Gerlich, CEO of The Care Workers’ Charity, says “It is disappointing that in an 80-page document, care only receives a few lines. The only commitment seems to be a continuation of reforms discussed over the last few years, which have not been nearly enough to support the sector. We are concerned by the impact of benefit changes on people drawing on social care and on care workers, who, as low-paid workers, often need support via benefits themselves. We would like to see clarification on welfare reforms and their impact on working claimants.
I was surprised to see the NHS along with social care appearing so far down the list of priorities and that the NHS and social care were not mentioned in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s speech introducing the manifesto.
We do welcome the multi-year funding settlement, but this depends on how much funding will be provided and over how many years. We would like to see further detailed plans for this. Similarly, while we welcome the 30 hours of childcare, as many care workers with families rely on childcare support, we question the sustainability of this initiative given the current issues with recruitment and retention in the early years sector. Overall, the manifesto is disappointing for adult social care, and we would have liked to see this discussed more comprehensively.”