The Prime Minister’s focus on reforming social care is vitally important

We were honoured to welcome the Prime Minister to Jewish Care as he set out his vision for the future of adult social care. Alongside addressing an audience of stakeholders, he took the time to meet residents and staff at our Otto Schiff care home, gaining first-hand insight into the lives of those who rely upon and deliver care every day.

Few issues are more important to the wellbeing of our society than ensuring that older people and those who need care can live with dignity, security and support. Yet for many years social care has remained one of the great unresolved challenges facing our country. Successive governments have recognised the need for reform and many have pledged to address it, but meaningful and lasting change has proved elusive.

That is why Wednesday’s announcement was significant.

The Prime Minister’s willingness to place social care at the centre of the national conversation, and to seek support across political divides, is welcome. If we are to build a sustainable social care system for future generations, it will require consensus, courage and a commitment that extends beyond the lifespan of any single Parliament.

What gives particular importance to today’s announcement is that this issue is clearly a deeply personal one for the Prime Minister. His reflections on his own family’s experience of care brought home the reality that social care is not an abstract policy challenge but something that touches millions of lives across the country.

Social care has suffered for too long from being everybody’s priority in principle, but nobody’s priority in practice.

The Prime Minister spoke powerfully about the contribution of care workers and the vital role they play in supporting some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Greater recognition of the social care workforce must be central to any successful programme of reform. Their skill, compassion and dedication are the foundation upon which the entire care system rests.

We also welcome the decision to accelerate Baroness Casey’s review and bring forward recommendations for reform. The challenges facing social care are too urgent to remain unresolved for years to come, and a greater sense of pace will be welcomed across the sector.

Those of us who work in the sector every day see both the extraordinary impact of good care and the consequences of a system under strain. We see dedicated colleagues supporting older people, individuals living with complex needs, and families navigating some of the most challenging moments of their lives. We also see increasing demand, growing workforce pressures, financial challenges and the close relationship between social care and the wider health system.

The need for reform has never been clearer. Yet the sector has learned to approach announcements with cautious optimism. Over many years we have seen reports commissioned, reviews undertaken and commitments made, only for momentum to fade before meaningful change is delivered. By some estimates there have been more than twenty attempts to reform the system over the past three decades, yet many of the fundamental challenges facing social care remain unresolved. It is therefore understandable that providers, staff, unpaid carers and those who rely on care services will look beyond today’s words and seek evidence of practical action.

The reasons for that caution are understandable. Recent policy decisions have at times appeared inconsistent with the stated ambition to strengthen social care. The decision to include care charities and providers within the increases to employers’ National Insurance contributions left many organisations questioning whether the realities facing the sector were fully understood. At a time when providers were already grappling with rising demand, workforce shortages and mounting cost pressures, it appeared to many that social care had once again not been afforded the consideration that its importance warrants. Rebuilding confidence will require policies that consistently recognise the essential role that care providers play in supporting communities and reducing pressures elsewhere in the public sector.

Nevertheless, Wednesday’s announcement presents a genuine opportunity. We welcome Baroness Casey’s leadership of the Independent Commission on Adult Social Care and the commitment to engage the public in shaping the future of care. The voices of those who draw upon care, families, unpaid carers, frontline staff and providers must all be central to the conversation.

At Jewish Care, we stand ready to play our part. We bring the experience of supporting thousands of people every week, the expertise of a dedicated workforce and a deep understanding of the difference that high-quality care can make to people’s lives. We will engage constructively with Government and partners across the sector to help ensure that reform delivers meaningful and lasting improvements.

The country does not need another conversation that ends in disappointment. It needs a plan that endures, investment that matches ambition, meaningful recognition of the workforce and a commitment to finish a job that governments have started, but never completed. We hope this will be the moment that finally changes that.

Daniel Carmel-Brown is the CEO of Jewish Care