Failure to mention social care in Queen’s Speech is ‘missed opportunity’

Care providers have expressed disappointment at the failure to mention adult social care in the Queen’s Speech, saying it’s a ‘clear indication’ that social care does not have a high enough priority in the government’s agenda.

The State Opening of Parliament was delivered yesterday, outlining the government’s priorities for the new session, including the reform of mental health legislation, banning conversion therapy and unpaid carer’s leave.

Care England argues social care can be an important mechanism to deliver both economic regeneration and levelling up.

The representative body for independent care providers is calling on the government to connect its various strategies and make social care a theme that runs through its agenda for recovery.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, said: ‘The Queen’s Speech was an opportunity for the Government to set out the plan for further Social Care Reform, and to offer additional resources for a sector that needs further Government support in order to build back sustainability and capacity after the Covid pandemic.

‘The lack of mention or reference to adult social care in this year’s State Opening of Parliament leaves a bitter taste for the care sector. The Government has set out its plan to fix social care, but with no mention of continued reform or additional financial support for adult social care, the Government has turned its back on a sector it promised in their manifesto.

‘By failing to directly commit to supporting the sector, care providers are left unsure of how they will manage this current wave of inflation and additional pressures they are under, whilst the NHS will continue to suffer.’

He added: ‘Government has overlooked an opportunity to invest in the future sustainability of the sector which supports some of society’s most vulnerable. The current plan for reform leaves care providers unsure of the financial security of their sector.

‘Adult social care must return to the Government’s policy agenda to renew its commitments to “fix social care”. If this is not achieved, then the Government risks allowing the care sector to continue to walk precariously into a future at risk of collapse.’

Photo by Marcin Nowak