Peers call for Government action on adult social care amid claims that principles of Care Act 2014 "not realised in practice"

A House of Lords select committee has challenged the Government to introduce urgent reforms in adult social care, calling on it to “finally and fully” implement the principles of the Care Act 2014.

In a report issued this month, A “gloriously ordinary life”: Spotlight on adult social care, the Adult Social Care Committee warned that the “continued invisibility” of the adult social care sector as a whole was increasingly damaging to both those who draw on care and who provide unpaid care.

The report noted that this comes at a time of increasing need, rising costs and a shrinking workforce.

The committee said that much of the transformation they were calling for was already contained in the Care Act 2014’s principles of wellbeing, choice and control.

They argued however that the principles had “not been realised in practice”, and therefore the committee would like to see the vision of the Act implemented.

Hearing from witnesses from local authorities, the committee was told that while the Act intended to set out a new vision for adult social care, which came in the form of new duties for councils, it “did not provide enough guidance and support to assist local authorities in successfully implementing what constitutes a significant cultural shift”.

The report noted that adult social care continued to be “largely out of sight and off the public agenda”. It described this as a stark contrast to the NHS, which leads to a “partial and often flawed understanding” of social care.

The report set out a number of recommendations to aid a new approach to the sector.

The committee called on the Government to commit to a more “positive and resilient approach” to adult social care based on “greater visibility for the whole sector”.

Additionally, it called for greater choice and control for disabled adults and older people and a better deal for unpaid carers.

The report revealed that estimates show that there are between 4.2 million and 6.5 million unpaid carers in the UK, with the actual figure likely to be much higher. Additionally, the average person now has a 50% chance of becoming an unpaid carer by the time they reach 50.

The committee claimed that the Government’s recent White Paper, which outlined a new vision for social care, “falls short of providing a concrete and fully resourced programme of change, which is necessary to realise these ambitions”.

The report includes the following four recommendations, alongside the steps required towards achieving them.

1. Make adult social care a national imperative by:

• delivering realistic, predictable and long-term funding;
• delivering a properly resourced plan for supporting a highly valued workforce, building skills and remedying low pay;
• establishing a powerful Commissioner for Care and Support to strengthen the voice and identity of the sector;
• finally and fully implementing the principles of the Care Act 2014, rooted in wellbeing, choice, and control;
• ensuring that the voice of social care is loud and clear within Integrated Care Systems.

2. Prepare for the future by:

• recognising that more people will be ageing without children
• investing in better knowledge and data to inform better policy.

3. Ensure people who draw on social care have the same choice and control over their lives as everybody else by:

• enabling disabled people and older adults a genuine choice as to who supports them, simplifying the recruitment of personal assistants, and making access to direct payments easier;
• providing accessible housing and assistive technology to achieve independent living;
• working with social care staff to promote the skills to co-produce care;
• enabling people to determine who supports them, and what relationship they want with their family and friends.

4. Care for unpaid carers by providing:

• easier access to, and an increase in Carer’s Allowance;
• more flexible support for carers who work, including the implementation of Carer’s Leave;
• more support from health and social care professionals to identify them, signpost support, and ensure that they get it.

Baroness Andrews, Committee Chair, said: “In this report we have revealed the impact that the invisibility of the adult social care sector as a whole has on the way we perceive and provide for adult social care.

“Our recommendations are intended to bring those who draw on and provide unpaid care into the daylight and that starts with changing the perceptions around care, providing the realistic financial and workforce strategies that are long overdue, and planning for a system responsive to present needs and resilient for the future.

“All that will help the unpaid carer now so often at risk of poverty and ill health with a better future. But we want a better present for them too – and our specific recommendations for their support will deliver that.”

Lottie Winson