The government has admitted plans to cut its promised investment in the social care workforce by half, down to £250 million from the £500 million pledged when the social care white paper was published in 2021. Widely condemned by social care leaders, the move comes in spite of the 165,000 staff vacancies across the sector. Caroline Abrahams, head of Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance (CSA), told the BBC that the government’s proposed measures “aren’t remotely enough to transform social care.” She added: “With quite a chunk of the money originally promised for care now no longer available, our CSA members are telling us this is just the latest in a long series of disappointments so far as recent government performance on social care is concerned.” The £500 million had been earmarked for investment in workforce knowledge and skills as well as recruitment policies to strengthen social care as a career choice. Nadra Ahmed, executive chair of the National Care Association, told the Guardian that the cuts had come just as the sector was struggling with recruitment and retention. “If this money has been taken out, it is short-sighted,” she said. “There could be other ways to utilise this money if they spoke to the sector.”
