Campaigners call for legal pledge on care in Queen’s Speech

Campaigners have called on the new government to make a legally binding commitment to care for the elderly and vulnerable in tomorrow’s Queen’s speech.

The Independent Care Group (ICG) and Care England urged the government to make a similar commitment to its £34bn spending pledge to the NHS during the state opening of Parliament tomorrow.

ICG chair Mike Padgham said: “Boris Johnson promising to raise spending on the NHS by almost £34bn by 2023-24 is an excellent commitment, especially as he plans to make it a legally-binding commitment, in the Queen’s Speech.

“But unless he is prepared to make a similar, legally-binding commitment to social care too, he will undermine whatever is promised for the NHS.”

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, added: “The symbiotic relationship between health and social care needs to be recognised, understood and acted upon. There is little point resourcing the NHS to the tune of £34 billion by 2023-4 if a commensurate amount of money, time and energy isn’t put into adult social care too. Social care is the backbone of the NHS and without a long term strategy neither will be able to deliver”.

The ICG issued its manifesto before the General Election calling for a minimum agreed level of care fees, better funding of social care through taxation or National Insurance and its merger with the NHS.

“This is a new government, with a clear majority and now we need to see it turn its attention to domestic issues like social care and give us some strong commitments to deliver on the pre-election pledges,” Mike added.

“We really want to see some proper proposals for social care in the Queen’s Speech and not just the vague promises we have heard recently.

“Almost £8bn has been cut from social care budgets since 2010-11 and the new government must act now to reverse that decline.”