A lack of social care funding is having a huge impact on frontline workers and people with a learning disability. Jackie O’Sullivan is Acting Chief Executive at learning disability charity Mencap reveals the learning disability charity’s latest research and what government must do to solve the social care crisis.
I don’t need to persuade anyone reading Care Talk that support workers play a crucial role in enriching the lives of the 140,000 people with a learning disability who get support within the community in England. Not only do support workers provide personal care, but they often help people achieve huge milestones such as getting a job, setting up home or even getting married. But as we all know, people working in social care are not getting the recognition they deserve, resulting in hundreds of thousands leaving the sector at a time of rising demand.
We have launched a new campaign – Why We Care – as we want to spotlight the skill and dedication of people working in social care and draw attention to the challenges many face due to a lack of government funding. We conducted research with more than 360 frontline staff and have published the findings in a report. The results are at once heartening and heartbreaking.
A third of support workers and service managers we surveyed had taken on their role to give back to society and improve the lives of people with a learning disability. We heard how people find their role rewarding and build strong bonds with the people they support. We heard inspiring stories about how they go above and beyond to make a difference to people with a learning disability, from making one person a cookbook so they could make their favourite meal to helping another propose marriage!
But we also found that support workers are struggling because of sector-wide low pay. Two-fifths (39%) of our survey respondents said they were in financial difficulty, with many saying they worked long hours to make ends meet or cut back on necessities. Across the sector, we are hearing of people working in social care skipping meals and even using foodbanks.
We also learned that a quarter (26%) of support staff said they were having difficulty recruiting and retaining staff, leading to existing staff working significantly longer hours.
The issues of recruitment and retention in social care is taking its toll on those who need it. According to recent figures, more than 400,000 people in England were waiting for social care, with 82,000 waiting more than six months.
Last year, Mencap had more than 1,000 enquiries to our helpline from people wanting help with social care. People have reported issues getting the help they need or seeing cuts to the numbers of hours being provided to them. We are hearing of stressed relatives shouldering the care themselves.
These challenges faced by frontline workers and those receiving the care are being caused by a lack of government funding. There is also a need for social care to be ‘rebranded. The government and public need to better-understand the vital role support workers play, something we hope to start achieving with our campaign.
Social care workers should get the same recognition as NHS staff. Currently, because the social care system is so fragmented, the pay for those in social care can vary but for many it is around the minimum wage mark. This is in spite of the level of skill needed for the role, from administering medication and tube feeding to managing finances or coaching people into work. People in social care can earn thousands of pounds a year less than those in similar roles in the NHS such as clinical assistants who are at Band 3.
Local authorities aren’t getting sufficient funding from national government so the amounts they offer providers to deliver care means there is little flexibility for providers to pay staff more. With a general election looming, we need all political parties to take social care seriously.
We need them to commit to introducing a minimum wage for social care staff that mirrors those of similar roles in the NHS, and to fund this. We are calling for them to immediately inject £8.4 billion into the social care system to meet current and future demand and deliver improvements. We also need a funded National Long-Term Plan to recruit and retain more social care workers.
We need as much support as possible to make this happen so we are urging everyone to sign our petition. We want everyone to show they care about the people who care.
To find out more about the Why We Care campaign and sign the petition visit mencap.org.uk/whywecare
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mencap.org.uk
