Councils and charities in plea for party leaders to avoid “trap” of politicising debate about future of adult social care
A coalition of councils, charities and campaigners have written a joint open letter to all party leaders, urging the incoming government to “champion and prioritise” adult social care in the upcoming election.
The open letter, signed by 42 organisations, including the Local Government Association, ADASS, British Association of Social Workers, County Councils Network, National Care Forum and Care England calls for party leaders to “avoid the trap of politicising the debate about the future of care and support”, and to “recognise the role of social care at every level of society”.
The letter observes that adult social care is not as prominent as it should be in debates about the future of communities, and that it tends to be presented as a service that is “broken and in need of being fixed”.
The sector leaders called for national party leaders to instead “extol the virtues and value of care and support”, and “give people reasons to be hopeful, not alarmed”.
The letter stated: “People within the sector describe the value of social care in many different ways. Some say it is a structure of support that helps people to continue doing the things that matter most to them. Others say it is the glue that helps bind our communities together. Others say it is inseparable from the idea of preserving people’s human rights. The unifying theme in all such definitions, and others, is that care and support is a fundamental part of the social and economic fabric of our local communities.
“[…] As national party Leaders and the figureheads for all your parliamentary candidate colleagues, we encourage you to talk more about adult social care in the remaining weeks of the election campaign and to talk about it in the above way. Irrespective of the colour of your rosette, we know you’re seeking high office because you care about the future of our country. Now is a great chance to demonstrate that driving motivation.”
Further, the Local Government Association (LGA) warned that all parties need to put the national interest first, and work on a “cross-party basis” to secure the future of care and support.
Lottie Winson
