Welcome to the latest edition of The Carer Digital!

A report by Warwick University highlighting that government support during the Covid pandemic postponed a financial crisis in the care sector, as opposed to preventing it, will come as a surprise to nobody

As discussed in last week’s issue I recently attended a Future of Care seminar earlier this month which had some of the adult social care sector s leading organisations taking part

The report confirms all what they said, and highlights several significant issues particularly the withdrawal of support as the pandemic subsided The report rightly points out that while the pandemic had peaked, the financial impact was ongoing and the withdrawal of support at that time created significant issues for operators

Mike Padgham CEO of the Independent Care Group rightly says that: “Whilst we got some help during the worst of Covid-19 that stopped far too quickly Since then the extra costs associated with the pandemic combined with huge increases in energy and utility costs and the ongoing staffing challenges have all pushed the sector deeper into the abyss ”

The report highlights how care staff increased working hours often unpaid I have in past comments highlighted the seminar I sat in on in 2021 and listened to some harrowing stories from operators and frontline workers on how they managed to get through the storm, sleeping on camp beds, or even staffroom settees as opposed to going home and passing on any potential infections to their own families

The hard work and dedication and sacrifice wasn’t highlighted enough then and frankly it isn t highlighted enough now except within the sector

And I think the fact that the government has cut £250 million from its promised workforce fund adds insult to injury

I do remember reporting that social care workers would need a 41% pay rise to achieve parity with their NHS equivalents, in a report that examined the reasons behind the current workforce crisis in the care sector

The report entitled Unfair To Care – 2022/23 developed by Community Integrated Care in partnership with job evaluation specialists Korn Ferry provided an in-depth examination at the reverberations that low pay and the recruitment crisis creates on care workers and people who draw on social care, revealing that at current government rates of investment it will take 23 years - an entire generation - for social care

Support Workers To Receive Equal Pay For Equal Work

We are receiving many releases now that the sector is moving towards addressing remuneration issues within the sector but this cannot of course be done without further government support I think most people would agree the government has taken the sectors goodwill for granted for far too long!

In another report on page 15 I note that the Government has announced its decision to delay the implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards beyond the life of this Parliament as part of wider plans to reform and improve adult social care set out in its paper Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care

For all intents and purposes this means that a decision on whether or when to implement the LPS will not be taken until after the formation of a new government

I am today putting out an alert on the implications of this very complex issue and we very much hope to have some expert input in the coming issue(s)!

We are also exhibiting next week at The Residential & Home Care Show at London’s ExCeL (April 26 and 27), so please do pay us a visit - we always welcome feedback!

And please follow us on Twitter We have hit the magic 10 000 followers we are delighted to say and we want to get that up to 20 000! So please do follow us and encourage as many of your followers in the sector to follow us as well!

I can always be contacted at editor@thecareruk com