The Social Care Crisis Is Bigger Than We Think
The current social care system is plagued by poor standards and low funding. But even if we fix these problems, there’s another lurking ahead.
The British social care system needs reform.
On that, almost everyone can agree. There is simply not enough funding in the system, nor good enough provision, nor sufficient staffing levels. Ultimately, though, most problems in the sector flow from funding, and, in particular, the mechanisms through which the social care sector is funded.
But where the NHS has a simple funding mechanism, and is thus a simple institution with basic flaws, we might shed the most light on the social care system by recognising that it is not really a ‘system’ at all. Funding for social care is a mess, so social care is a mess.
The addendum of ‘social care’ to ‘Department of Health’ was perhaps the most meaningless departmental reshuffle any Prime Minister has ever conducted. Insofar as the funding for a system flowing through a ministry constitutes ‘control’ over the system for that ministry, social care remains under the control of the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government. In reality, though, a modern Prime Minister does not let a low-ranking minister in a…
