Confirmed funding for social care workforce will offer some much-needed stability

Responding to a government statement with details of the new Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund – Workforce Fund, Nuffield Trust Fellow Camille Oung said:

“We have too often seen social care raided to pay off other budgets, so keeping this promised pot of money and prioritising care workers was the right decision. This will offer some of the much-needed stability that could allow staff to be hired on decent conditions for the long term.

“At the same time, we cannot be sure that this funding alone will meet the depth of the problem after years of neglect. Care workers are now facing soaring prices on the back of a decade of often poor pay and conditions. A comprehensive programme of reform is needed so that we have a stable, thriving workforce whose terms and conditions attract the growing numbers we need over the coming decades.”