Age UK responds to speech by Health and Social Care Secretary

On Tuesday 20 March the Health and Social Care Secretary outlined his key principles to reforming social care, as part of a speech at Westminster.

Commenting on the proposals, Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK and co-Chair of the CSA (Care and Support Alliance) said:

“The devil will be in the detail of the Social Care Green Paper but the ‘seven principles’ Jeremy Hunt announced today are encouraging because they suggest the Paper will consider the things that really do matter to older people and disabled people in need of care - like ensuring service quality & a strong & motivated workforce.”

“It was also good to hear a definite commitment from the Government to publishing the long overdue Carers Action Plan in advance of the Green Paper itself, with the latter pledged ‘before the summer’.”

“But however positive the Green Paper turns out to be it won’t in and of itself solve the dire funding problems facing social care today. There’s no avoiding the need for an urgent injection of Government funds into social care now, in our view.”