Despite repeated promises from politicians, the state of social care in the UK has deteriorated further, according to readers who have written to share their experiences. Anne-Louise Crocker, a full-time unpaid carer for her two adult disabled daughters in Shoreham, Kent, describes a system in crisis.
A Carer's Perspective
Crocker notes that at the 2024 Labour conference, Health Secretary Wes Streeting declared: “We can’t fix the NHS without fixing the crisis in social care. And we can’t fix social care without the people who work in it … I will deliver a new deal for care professionals: a fair pay agreement, to improve pay and conditions and give staff the status and respect they deserve – our first step towards building a national care service.”
However, Crocker argues that Streeting’s first step was simply to launch another review, which will not report until the end of the parliament, effectively postponing action. “Two years on, I can report that the state of social care is worse than ever. Despite having a budget from our local authority (formally Tory, now Reform UK) to pay for care, I cannot get anyone to do it. For the first time in 20 years I have nobody to help me,” she writes.
She points out that the recent King’s Speech introduced 37 new bills without a single mention of social care. “So much for the ‘new deal for care professionals’. They have become an endangered species, and the situation is exacerbated by the Labour government’s ban on visas for social care workers,” she adds.
Crocker quotes Streeting’s resignation letter: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction we have drift.” She says this is “possibly the only true thing he has said since becoming a minister, and nowhere has it been more true than in the Department of Health and Social Care.”
Call for Transformation
Dr Brian Fisher, writing on behalf of the End Social Care Disgrace campaign, echoes these concerns. He praises Heather Stewart’s article on social care and argues that the current provision fails everyone: care workers, unpaid carers, and those who draw on care. “A toxic mix of austerity and private equity drain the system of funding and leave workers struggling to keep relational care alive,” he writes.
Dr Fisher calls for a transformed social care system, free at the point of use like the NHS and funded from taxation, but without private profiteering. “We need services to respond to people’s needs, not the other way round. It would make a big difference if the Care Act was acted on in full. Scotland offers free personal care – it can be done,” he states.
He highlights that funding social care is an investment with a return of 1.75 times the initial funding. “Beyond economics, it would be hugely popular and the sort of big idea that Labour needs. Let’s make it happen!” he concludes.
The letters underscore the growing frustration with the lack of progress on social care reform, despite political pledges.
