CPA responds to the Comprehensive Spending Review
25 November 2020
The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) is the collective, national voice of adult social care providers in England, bringing together the ten national associations which represent private, voluntary and community sector providers. Responding to the Chancellor’s comprehensive spending review, Kathy Roberts, chair of the CPA says:
“The spending review has come at a critical time. The Covid-19 pandemic has amplified some of the challenges that exist in the adult social care sector. Public spending in local authorities and adult social care have seen heavy cuts in previous years and there is a need to redress some of that imbalance and make public spending more comprehensive, focusing not just on health services but on care and support, and not just on spending by national government but by local government too.
“The promised additional £1bn funding through local authorities falls short of the £7bn recommended by the Health and Social Care Committee and the £6bn forecasted from our own research in May 2020.
“The financial pressures in local government as a result of years of austerity and the pandemic has threatened an already fragile adult social care provider market. Underpaying for social care, the impact of Covid-19 and the longer-term pressures on adult social care that come from having more older people living longer, the increased need from working-age adults, better support for people with a learning disability or autism, improved mental health service provision and the rising costs of delivering care are just some of the challenges that will need to be addressed, not to mention the costs of properly reforming the current social care system.
“The adult social care sector is estimated to contribute £41.2 billion per annum to the economy in England. The total wage bill for the sector, accounted for around half of this amount at £22.2 billion in 2019/20 (up 2% from 2018/19). With promises to increase the national living wage to £8.91 per hour it is imperative that proper funding is in place in order to pay staff a fair wage and to deliver quality services to the people who need it the most.
“We will continue to work closely with our partners across national and local government to make sure that funding for adult social care is adequate to meet the increasing demand and challenges for service provision.”
Note to Editors:§
- The Care Provider Alliance (CPA) brings together the 10 main national associations, which represent independent and voluntary adult social care providers in England. We work to represent the sector and ensure a coordinated response to the major issues that affect it.
- The CPA bring together the ten national associations, which represent private, voluntary and community sector providers. We speak for the whole of the adult social care sector including care homes, home care services, Shared Lives schemes and retirement communities.
- CPA members cover almost 10,000 organisations, employ over 600,000 staff and support an estimated 1 million people.
- For more information on the Care Provider Alliance visit our website
- Media contact: Care Provider Alliance, info@careprovideralliance.org.uk