Alzheimer’s Society responds to ongoing discussion about how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting care workers across the UK. The government have said they are investing £5.4bn to reform adult social care over the next three years, along with an extra £500m for funding for care staff training and development.
James White, Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “As underpaid, overstretched care workers struggle to make ends meet as living costs spiral, people with dementia face being abandoned without the care they so desperately need.
“The need to invest in the social care workforce, giving them parity with the NHS, has never been more urgent, as leaders in adult social care warn they are braced for the most challenging year ever. People with dementia are the biggest users of social care services and are at the sharp end of this crisis.
“The £500m already promised must be urgently delivered, and the government must set out how it will use this to make the crucial changes needed to retain people in these roles – to provide better pay, more training, support staff wellbeing and create a career framework. Without this, we face people being driven from their jobs in droves, leaving people with dementia at risk. The next Prime Minister must seize the opportunity to create a social care system which properly meets people’s needs.”