Recommendation 4

The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP said as Prime Minister that he would fix the crisis in social care once and for all. We commend the Government for attempting to prevent unpredictable and catastrophic care costs for people and introducing reforms to the sector where previous Governments failed to act. But it should be under no illusions that it has come close to rescuing social care, and needs to be open with the public that there is a long way to go. Ultimately, all our lines of inquiry returned to the same fundamental point: there is a large funding gap in adult social care that needs filling. This is not new information. In October 2020, the Health and Social Care Long-term funding of adult social care 73 Committee estimated a funding gap of £7 billion to cover demographic changes, uplift staff pay in line with the National Minimum Wage, and to protect people who face catastrophic social care costs. We have not yet received an updated estimate of the funding gap to take into account immediate pressures and the Government’s various policy reforms. £7 billion was just a starting point and would not address the growing problem of unmet need nor improve access to care, with the full cost of adequate funding likely to run to tens of billions of pounds.