But few people with complex disabilities would have benefited from it.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nAlthough the Government has delayed the introduction of the cap, it hasn\u2019t taken away the additional funding. Councils will still receive this extra money, but they will be able to spend it on addressing other problems facing the social care system. This could make a real difference to disabled people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fair Cost of Care<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
But some of the plans they\u2019ve delayed would have helped tackle some of the major problems in social care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, local authorities often don\u2019t have enough money to pay social care providers properly. The White Paper proposed a \u2018Fair Cost of Care\u2019 fund to allow local authorities to pay providers rates that reflect the true cost of providing care. Although we had concerns about how this would work in practice, it was still a positive first step towards making sure local authorities can pay providers fairly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government has postponed this, meaning providers will still struggle to pay competitive wages to care workers. At a time when providers are struggling to recruit the right people, this will only make things worse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we want to see<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
While some of these delays and cancellations to social care reforms will negatively impact disabled people, the Implementation Paper is also an opportunity for the Government to include some of things it missed out of the White Paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A workforce strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Government should set out a workforce strategy to make sure disabled people can always access the care and support they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Low wages, a lack of recognition and limited opportunities for advancement\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of these make it harder to hire and keep the right care workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With workforce shortages having even more of an impact on the sector than the rest of the economy, now is the time for the Government to solve the problems we\u2019ve known about for years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The White Paper set out some positive steps to address this. We particularly welcomed the \u00a3500 million investment in the care workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government need to continue prioritising tackling the workforce crisis. And this is best done alongside a full workforce strategy \u2013 just like the Government has promised to the NHS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making sure disabled people get the housing they need<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As things stand, too many people with complex disabilities don\u2019t get the chance to live somewhere that supports them to live independently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were pleased when the Government used the White Paper to announce a \u00a3300 million fund to support the integration of housing into health and social care strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re hoping that the Implementation Paper will set out exactly how the Government will use this money to make sure that more disabled people can access the housing that is right for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The White Paper was never going to fix social care. The Government could use the Implementation Paper to water down its proposals even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll be looking carefully at the Implementation Paper to see how well its measures will address the challenges faced by disabled people who draw on care and support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By working with MPs and civil servants, we hope to persuade the Government to take this opportunity to make sure that everyone gets the support they need to lead independent and meaningful lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just over a year ago, the Department of Health and Social Care published a White Paper designed to \u2018fix social care\u2019. A lot has changed since then. We\u2019ve been through two Prime Ministers, three Health and Social Care Secretaries and three Ministers of State for Care. Unsurprisingly, the Government\u2019s plans for social care reform have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1393,7],"tags":[],"display_author":[],"class_list":["post-23356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policy","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23356"},{"taxonomy":"display_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sense.org.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display_author?post=23356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}