澳门六合彩开奖结果查询 General Election Blog: Time to properly fund social work & social care
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We need a bigger pot to properly fund Social Care and Social Work.聽
At the time of writing, neither of the two parties vying to form the next government have talked about social care in this General Election campaign, even less about the funding needed to remake this as an important social service.
Is this too big a thorn to grasp for what is increasingly a Cinderella service, hidden by likely tax cuts and the demands of other services? Particularly, in the next few years, the Military? Is there any interest at all that the basic organisational structures of the personal social services seem to be falling away?
, half of councils in England (and some in Scotland) believe they are likely to apply for s.114 status (鈥楤ankruptcy鈥) in the next five years. With that will go a significant amount of current adult and children social care funding.聽
Seven councils have already gone down that road, including Birmingham and Nottingham. In Birmingham, this has meant cuts of 拢115million in Children鈥檚 Services and 拢77million in Adult Services over two years, while they have to pay 拢100k a month for the parachuted Government Commissioners.
And yet it鈥檚 clear that, far from further cuts, big increases are necessary. has identified that we need, just for Adult Social Care, between a 3.4% and 6% increase above inflation, or between 拢8.3Billion and 拢18.4 Billion, depending on how far we want to meet future demand and improve access.聽
New funding has been nothing like this. The 拢1.74Billion agreed in 2021, , turned into only 拢729million in practice, and聽much of that was used for pay awards. In Children鈥檚 Services, Josh McAlister鈥檚 review identified a need for 拢2.6 Billion as against the 拢200mill agreed. It will be interesting to see Josh鈥漵 actions if he gets elected as a Labour MP in Cumbria and Labour are elected to Government.
Both Labour and the Conservatives seem to want to encourage private sector involvement, yet even the has questioned the high profitability, particularly amongst the Venture Capital Companies that own much of the children鈥檚 social care sector. Yes, I know many social workers now work in the Private Sector, particularly in Private sector Fostering Agencies, but it鈥檚 questionable whether they, rather than the Venture Capitalists, really benefit from the high level of profit. Meanwhile, the bankruptcy of councils threatens directly provided resources that still exist.
has identified that Sure Start funding has decreased by two thirds since the change of government in 2010, with over 1340 centres closing. Their 2024 study identified major GCSE and SEND improvements for those who attended in their first five years, particularly for those from poorer and non-white backgrounds. They reckon for every 拢1 spent, there were 拢1.09 of benefits. The growing numbers of children in the care system, with preventative alternatives difficult to engage, suggest that the Sure Start cuts have been a major backwards move.
Labour seems to be moving to the , an idea already controversial in Scotland. The idea of locally provided services seems key to good social work, but there seems to be some sort of 鈥榩ostcode lottery鈥 across councils. Will a National Care Service or even (with the growing cross support for Regional Mayors) new Regional Social Work outfits be on the cards?
Richard Servian, Black Country 澳门六合彩开奖结果查询 Branch