Yasmin Qureshi Labour Member of Parliament for Bolton South East
In January, I wrote to the previous Chancellor, Sajid Javid, and called on him to increase social care funding in the March budget, and, in particular, funding for people living with dementia.
I have now received a reply from the Minister for Care, Helen Whately MP, which you can see below:
The additional funding outlined in the Budget for the NHS and social care sector as part of the COVID-19 response is welcome. However, our social care sector is already under extreme pressure. After a decade of cuts to local government, £7.7 billion has been taken out of adult social care budgets and too many people are left to cope without the support they need.
The Budget also did not provide long-term funding or reform of social care. Instead, as Ms. Whatley noted in her letter, the Government is going to set out its social care plans for 2020-2025 later this year
I am interested to see what the Government’s plans will entail and whether they will include the much-needed reforms and funding boosts that the sector requires.
As part of a wider commitment to establish a National Care Service, I support introducing free personal care for all older people and extending this to working-age adults as soon as possible. This would more than double the number of people receiving state-funded care and stop people with dementia being treated unfairly by the care system by ensuring they receive the same care as those with other conditions.
I also believe that Ministers should address the widespread vacancies across the social care sector, invest in the workforce, and support our hard-working carers.
I can assure you that I will continue to push the Government to act to improve social care.