Edel Harris
“The social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it. system is broken – it’s vital that the country has the opportunity to choose a leader who is genuinely interested in solving the care crisis”
This week, Conservative MPs decided on the two final candidates to become our next
Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is the leader of
the government
The Government are the people who run the country. The Government decide how much
tax
Tax is the money that pays for things like schools, hospitals and the police. There are different types of taxes like
income tax
Income tax is the money that is taken out of the money you earn every month. It helps to pay for things we all need like hospitals and schools.
,
VAT
VAT is also called Value Added Tax. VAT is the extra money you pay when you buy things. The money goes to the government to pay for things like schools and hospitals.
and
council tax
Council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
Tax is the money that people pay to the
council
A council is also called a
local authority
A local authority is also called a council. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live like schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. They are a group of people who make decisions about some of the things in the area where you live. These include: schools, social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
. It helps to pay for things like social care (support for people), parks and dustbin collection.
.
people should pay and how things like the National Health Service (
NHS
The NHS is the National Health Service. The NHS gives free healthcare to everyone in the UK and includes things like your GP (doctors) surgery and hospitals.
) should work.
.
. This is a critical time for our country – and although discussing whether or not to cut taxes will be important to many, the candidates should also be addressing concerns about the need to prioritise what matters most in our society. At Mencap, we want to see someone in power who believes in the value of social care for those in society who require some form of care or support to live their lives well. Fast action is required to fix the broken social care system once and for all.
As party members, you have an opportunity to look at both candidates and carefully consider their policies. We know that whoever takes over must act quickly to fulfil the UK government’s long-standing and unfinished commitment to mend the broken social care system, and we know what’s at stake if they fail to finish the job.
Many of the 1.5 million people living across the UK with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
depend on the social care system to live a fulfilling and independent life. But new
research
Research is a way of finding out information which could come from books, or asking people what they think.
from ADASS (the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) warns that we must brace ourselves for our most challenging year yet – with 7 out of 10 directors saying that social care providers in their area have closed, and many social care workers being forced out because they can no longer afford to do the job they love. These are frontline workers who put their lives on the line during the Covid-19 crisis, yet they are struggling to afford basic life essentials because of the cost of living crisis.
ADASS also found that just 3% of local authorities are confident that they have the resources to deliver on all of their responsibilities next year and that 51% are recording more referrals and requests because of the lack of other services in the
community
A community is the people and places in an area.
. We need more, not less funding, for social care to deal with these pressures, and candidates need to be clear on how they will make this happen.
We must ask ourselves; what kind of society do we want to live in? If we don't support disabled adults and older people who rely on the essential care and support that the care system represents – what does that say about our priorities? People who rely on social care represent a key constituency of voters, including working-aged adults, whose quality of life can be transformed by bold and decisive action.
While some progress has been made, we still have a long way to go, especially for the 90% of care users who won't benefit from the new cap on care costs. The new leader’s legacy may well be defined by the way they take on these challenges and succeed where previous Prime Ministers have failed; in ensuring social care becomes as important to the UK as the NHS and as a result gets the recognition, funding and commitment from government that it deserves.