Represented at the Labour Party Conference

Community Integrated Care’s Director of Communities and Partnerships, John Hughes, will be joining politicians and key spokespeople within the social care sector at the Future Social Care Coalition (FSCC) Labour Party Conference this Tuesday, to discuss why a workforce reform is critical for the future of social care.

The Future Social Care Coalition (FSCC) is a cross-party and cross sector group made up of senior politicians, employer groups and the largest union in social care, established in 2020 to highlight to the government the urgent need for a reform within social care – including parity of esteem for the social care sector with the NHS; a comprehensive social care workforce strategy designed to generate skills training, professionalism and improve pay and conditions for social care workers; and a substantial and immediate funding boost for social care.

The FSCC’s upcoming conference ‘Get Social Care Done: Time for a Social Care People Plan’ provides a forum for representatives from the sector to share their views alongside politicians from the Labour party, and to keep up the pressure on the government to ‘get social care done’. The conference will make the case for the government to urgently prioritise social care workforce reform, and for the promised Social Care White Paper to be brought forward.

Our charity is proud to be joining like-minded people at the event, to share our thoughts on why we need a Social Care People Plan in order to create a fair deal for care workers – including better respect, reward and regulation.

The key question that will be posed for discussion amongst the panel is – “Why is workforce reform critical to getting social care done.” In facilitating conversations around this topic, the FSCC’s goal is to deepen and widen support within the Labour Party for immediate social care workforce reform and for social care to be their top political and policy priority.

The panel will be made up of a mixture of political speakers and practitioners from the social care sector, including:
• Liz Kendall MP, Shadow Minister for Social Care
• Rt Hon Andy Burnham, Metro Mayor, Greater Manchester
• Lord Bob Kerslake
• Helen Hayes, MP
• John Hughes, Director of Communities & Partnerships at Community Integrated Care
• Chirstina McAnea, General Secretary of UNISON and FSCC Co-Chair
• Dan Howard, Programme Manager at Living Wage Foundation
• Joycelyn Alderson, Regional Managing Director at Dimensions
• Terry Rich, Group Boards Chair Avenues Group

John Hughes, Director of Communities & Partnerships at Community Integrated Care said:

“Social care is a uniquely skilled and vocational career, and its workforce should be recognised with fair pay, respect and professional development.

The sector is currently facing an unprecedented and worsening crisis, with the workforce issues of recruitment, retention and pay at the heart of this. Our Unfair To Care report has demonstrated that many social care workers are significantly undervalued in comparison to their counterparts in other public funded sectors.

As salaries increase in other sectors, costs of living rise and people contend with the fatigue of working through the pandemic, we are seeing people exit social care to find easier and higher paying roles elsewhere.

There is an absolute social, moral and economic imperative for the government to urgently deliver a coherent workforce strategy. People who access social care deserve high-quality support delivered by brilliant people, to lead the best life possible. We cannot allow this crisis to continue any longer.

We are pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Future Social Care Coalition and to share our insight at the Labour Party Conference. We are committed to engaging with ministers from all sides of the house to help champion the progressive reform that is so desperately needed.”

The conference will be held at the Hilton Brighton Metropole on Tuesday 28^th September and will run from 12.30pm – 2.00pm.