News Story

CSA response to government £240m social care boost

October 3, 2018

Yesterday, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, announced that the government will inject an emergency £240m into the social care system.

In his speech at Conservative party conference, he announced that the funds are intended to ease pressure on the NHS by allowing elderly people to be cared for at home, rather than in hospital.

We have been calling on Government to ensure immediate investment is made to avoid market collapse and keep the system afloat and believe this £240million falls for short of what is needed. We also need to see long term reform so that social care can be put on a sustainable footing for all those who need care – older people, disabled people and their carers.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK and co-Chair of the Care and Support Alliance responded to the announcement:

“The extra funding announced for social care this winter is very welcome, but the fact this latest ‘bail out’ was needed at all shows just how precarious things are. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of older people and disabled people who need social care and who are not coming out of hospital, who will not gain from this funding. So the need for a long term funding solution for social care remains as clear as ever & it is Government’s responsibility to come up with solid proposals in the Social Care Green Paper, due out later this year.”

For media enquiries, please contact Liz Fairweather on 0203 033 1718 or at Liz.Fairweather@ageuk.org.uk