Leading social care representative responds to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement

Care England, the leading representative body for independent adult social care providers, has responded to today’s Spring Statement, warning that the continued absence of meaningful adult social care support risks undermining wider economic stability and NHS recovery.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, commented: 

“The Spring Statement offered little reassurance for adult social care providers. While it focused on the wider economic outlook, it did not address the mounting pressures facing the social care sector.

 

Economic stability is essential. But economic stability cannot be sustained without a stable adult social care system. Today’s Spring Statement focused heavily on the NHS and defence, yet social care was absent while cost and workforce pressures continue to mount, further increasing sector instability.

 

Social care is not a peripheral service. It enables people to work, supports families, prevents hospital admissions, and facilitates timely hospital discharge. When social care is fragile, the whole system feels the strain. While falling inflation and interest rates may ease some operational pressures, social care continues to face deep, structural challenges.

 

If the government wants growth in every community and place in England, and is serious about reducing hospital wait times, then social care must be recognised as a foundational public service and economic sector.”

Care England is also disappointed to note that no new investment in social care was announced to address the impacts of fiscal drag on care workers, in the wake of a report from Skills for Care showing that sector pay continues to decrease due to dwindling funding for care packages. Workforce reform and apprenticeships investment announced could present opportunities for improvement, but social care’s pressures are immediate, and long-term reforms won’t deliver change quickly enough by themselves.