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Time for national care service, say Cambridgeshire county councillors




A lack of government funding is creating a “crisis” in the adult social care - and it is time for a national care service, according to Cambridgeshire county councillors.

They raised concerns about the “crumbling” sector - but opposition Conservative councillors accused the joint administration of Liberal Democrat, Labour and Independent councillors of trying to make a political point rather than work across parties to tackle the issues faced.

There's a crisis in social care, according to the county council
There's a crisis in social care, according to the county council

Cllr Mike Black (Lab, Arbury) presented a motion at a full council meeting on December 12, stating the government had “caused a crisis in adult social care, with chronic underfunding to local authorities” and calling for those working in it to be given the real living wage, better training, accreditation and career development opportunities.

The motion also called on the council to welcome the Fabian Society’s report from June 2023 that set out a roadmap towards a national care service.

Cllr Black noted that most people would need social care at some point in their lives.

He said: “A perfect storm is brewing because the Tory government has been underfunding social care for years, while private companies are unwilling to let their profit margins be eroded.

“They do not believe there is any political comeback for the suffering and misery that their cuts inflict on our older people and other vulnerable carers.”

Cllr Black warned Cambridgeshire was facing a 20 per cent shortfall in care provision in the near future and said they should be looking to fill this with public sector provision.

Cllr Richard Howitt (Lab, Petersfield) said the council was “not standing still” on the issue, highlighting the launch of the social care academy, but said they were still “struggling to meet social care needs” in Cambridgeshire.

He agreed a national care service would help to raise the quality of care, could pay better wages and could “drive out some worst providers putting profit before care”.

Cllr Alex Bulat (Lab, Abbey) said a national care service was “long overdue” and said the existing care sector was “crumbling”.

However, she urged anyone working on improving social care to consider migrant workers, on which the care sector relies. She said the current system tied immigration rights to employment, which makes it difficult for someone to leave a job if they are treated badly.

Cllr Sam Hoy (Con, Chatteris) broadly supported the motion, agreeing carers were underpaid and overworked, but argued the motion was “simplistic and political”.

Cllr Hoy said publicly-run services were not necessarily better than privately run services.

Cllr Steve Count (Con, March North and Waldersley) said there were benefits to private companies, claiming non-profit organisations “tend to lack resilience and innovation”.

He suggested a national care system would create more bureaucracy.

Cllr Count said he hoped the good points of the motion were moved forward, but could not support it due to the political arguments.

Cllr Mark Howell (Con, Cambourne) said they all knew that the “biggest problem no matter what colour will always be central government”.

He said: “The major problem is wages. You can have a carer on minimum wage dishing out tablets - they have got extreme responsibility for minimum wage, and they can go over to a supermarket for more wages. Carers face other issues as well, including how domiciliary carers have to travel.”

Cllr Howell said changes to immigration rules announced by the government could see some people coming to work in the UK prevented from bringing their family into the UK, which could “compound the issue further” and create a “huge problem”.

A majority of councillors agreed to vote in support of the motion.



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