Care is in crisis and has reached a tipping point (Image: File)
Angry social care providers have hinted at strike action in an unprecedented response to Labour’s tax-grabbing Budget.
Those running care homes have long warned of a cash crisis that threatens to topple a sector teetering on the brink.
But the impact of National Insurance and National Living Wage increases without any additional support has left those struggling to provide services threatening direct action.
Providers are looking at what GPs, nurses, and doctors have done to protest at their situation and could follow suit.
Mike Padgham, Chair of The Independent Care Group (ICG) which speaks for providers, said: “I think providers feel they have been ignored for too long and they are being backed into a corner. It is sad, but they are looking at what GPs, nurses, doctors and most recently, farmers, have done to protest their situation.”
He added: “It is very clear the Government’s 10-year plan for NHS reform is doomed to fail if it is not matched by similar reform of social care. You cannot fix the NHS without fixing social care. You cannot move from hospital to community if there is no community there to look after you.
“We have been waiting more than 30 years for reform to social care, seeing government after government kick the issue down the road time and time again. This government seems intent on doing the same, avoiding facing up to reforming social care.”
Social care providers could follow GPs, nurses and junior doctors by staging direct action (Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
The Express has learned that one immediate line of attack could be for providers to refuse to pay the Care Quality Commission regulator its annual payment demands.
It can invoice as much as £100,000 a year to care or nursing homes, specialist services, and agencies, to cover the costs of its regulatory activity and the issuing of registration certificates.
From April, employers will pay 15 per cent in NI contributions on salaries above £5,000, compared with 13.8 per cent on salaries above £9,100 now.
In addition, the National Living Wage will increase to £12.21 an hour, while the National Minimum Wage, for those aged 18-20, will rise to £10 an hour.
The triple whammy has sparked panic with small and medium-sized providers, who provide capacity for the lion’s share of those in receipt of adult social care, fearing they will be forced to close. That would send the system into meltdown, with a huge loss of space at a time the number of people going without care spikes, heaping further pressure on family carers and an overrun NHS.
It could also mean thousands of patients would not be able to be discharged from hospitals, further exacerbating a long-standing bed-blocking crisis.
Providers Unite, a grassroots campaign of adult care service providers warned of the “systemic collapse of care services across Britain” resulting from the financial burden.
Meanwhile, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services [ADASS], a membership organisation for those working in adult social care, said 81% of councils expect budgets to be overspent this year – up from 72% in 2023/24 – by a combined total of £564 million.
ADASS President Melanie Williams described the NI increases as “catastrophic”.
The Government has been repeatedly told social care is the Cinderella service to the NHS (Image: PA)
Professor Martin Green, Chief Executive of Care England, the charity representing independent providers, said: “The Government must take action before it’s too late.
“The message is crystal clear: We are watching the fabric of our care system unravel in front of our eyes. If the Government fails to act now, services will close, people will go without care, families will be left to shoulder unbearable burdens – and the NHS, already on its knees, will collapse under the weight of unmet social care needs. Every day of inaction pushes providers to implement their exit strategies and scale back services to point from which there may be no return.”
Analysis by the Nuffield Trust estimates social care providers face a £2.8 billion hit due to NI and wage increases.
Separately one in five of 1,180 providers polled by the Care Provider Alliance say they were planning to close, 73% will refuse new referrals from councils or the NHS, 57% planned to hand back contracts and 64% will make staff redundant. Nine in 10 are deeply concerned about the Budget’s impact on their viability to remain in business.
Last month, a survey of 1,180 care providers by the Care Provider Alliance found 22% of those who responded were planning to close their business, 73% will have to refuse new referrals from local authorities or the NHS, 57% planned to hand back some contracts and 64% feared having to make staff redundant.
Mr Padgham said: “If those things happen as the survey predicts, more and more people will end up going without the care they need, adding to the 2 million who currently can’t access care.
“Central to the Government’s plans for the NHS is moving from hospital to community, but they aren’t going to achieve that unless they get social care fit for purpose – not least so that they can discharge the thousands currently in hospital fit enough to be discharged but without care packages to enable it.”
The Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government inherited a social care system in crisis. We are determined to tackle the significant challenges and build a National Care Service so everybody can access the high-quality care they deserve.
“We have taken a critical step forward by introducing legislation that will establish the first ever Fair Pay Agreement for care professionals and we have increased the Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold by over £2,300, the biggest rise since the 1970s, giving unpaid carers the opportunity to earn more and care for their loved ones.
“On top of this, we have allocated at least £600 million of new funding for social care and £86 million for the Disabled Facilities Grant, which are part of a wider package to bolster support for councils.”