The Prime Minister announced his plan for health and social care reform today with a cap on the cost
of social care and funding which will amount to £12bn over three years, funded by a 1.25% increase
in NI contributions being called the ‘Health and Social Care Levy’.

Guild Care, Worthing’s leading social care charity, provides residential care to older people in three
homes and a wide range of community‐based services for older people, people living with dementia
and people of all ages with learning disabilities.

In July, Guild Care were invited to meet with key officials from the Department of Health and Social
Care, to represent the not‐for‐profit social care sector and provided information on the key challenges
being faced.

Guild Care’s CEO, Alex Brooks‐Johnson, who attended that session, said: “We talked about seeing
funding the social care system as an investment. We are good, local employers, contributing to the
local economy and providing life‐changing social care and meaningful, loving care to those who need
it. Government needs to recognise the important role we, and others like us, have and understand
that without significant investment the challenges we face today will only get worse.”

Guy Clinch, Guild Care’s Vice‐Chair of the Board of Trustees, said: “We provide high quality residential and community care to as many people as we can, and try to accommodate people who couldn’t otherwise afford it. We are only able to do this by managing our own charitable finances, and with the kind support of the community of Worthing.

“Whilst any Government time and focus on Social Care is positive, and true reform is long overdue,
the initial impression of this announcement leaves a number of significant issues unanswered, I hope
this is the first step in reform and that through further engagement with us, and others like us, and
work on the imminent Health and Care Bill, we’ll see more meaningful progress.”

Guild Care, like most providers of social care across the country, are facing issues with recruiting staff
and with being able to continue to offer their first‐class facilities and care to those who need it but
have to rely on state support for funding.

Alex added: “The cap on personal funding of social care is a big relief for people, I’m sure, but the big
question is whether the Local Authority will be provided with the means to pay for the true cost of
care. If more people are state funded in the future, which is the way this reform is heading, then we
need to have serious discussions about a fair price for care otherwise quality will become an issue.
“The other main challenge is that we are unable to pay care staff what we would like to because of
the restrictions created by the current funding model. Care staff have worked tirelessly through the
worst period imaginable, and this announcement does nothing to address the fact that they deserve
better pay and recognition for the professional and critical roles they have in supporting some of the
most vulnerable people in society. In fact, they will be worse off because of the NI rise.

“The announcements have included £500 million for workforce development to be spent on training
and supporting careers in Health and Social Care. Alex comments ‘this funding commitment is very
welcome and much needed, but will social care be prioritised in this? We look forward to hearing
more detail on this as well as other key parts of the reform.”

For further information about this news story, please contact Matilda Gillings at Conteur by
emailing [email protected] or by calling 01905 670881