Queen's Speech: PM forgot to put 'oven-ready' plan in cooker again, says care leader

“Proposals on social care reform will be brought forward” in the next parliamentary session, the Queen’s Speech announced, prompting care leaders to criticise Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his failure to bake his “oven-ready” plan for social care.

The Queen’s Speech announced 30 bills but the State Opening of Parliament has been described as another “missed opportunity” for social care.

Written by ministers and read out by the Queen in the House of Lords, the Queen’s Speech mentioned a Health and Care Bill to boost integrated NHS and local authority run care in England. However, the government stopped short of giving away any details about social care reform or introducing a social care reform bill.

The Conservative party pledged to reform adult care in its 2019 manifesto and Boris Johnson on his first day as PM promised to fix social care "once and for all", later telling the public he had an "oven-ready" plan for social care.

‘Government forgot to ever put it in the oven’

Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents independent care providers, said: “The oven-ready plan is truly burning, or maybe the Government forgot to ever put it in the oven.

“Sadly, we have been here before and it is simply unfathomable as to what will influence the Government to bring about reform; surely they can’t be waiting for provider failure and further chaos in the already overstretched NHS.

“This is a missed opportunity. Without the much needed, not to mention heralded, reform it is questionable as to how much longer the sector can be expected to limp on."

Care England's chief executive went on to say: “We stand ready and willing to help the Government deliver its manifesto commitment, but the Health and Care Bill which has a focus on the NHS, is not the vehicle to deliver this huge shift as it will not produce the system change that is necessary to ensure the future sustainability of the sector."

'We still don't know the size of the can'

Vic Rayner, chief executive of the National Care Forum, called the Queen's "nine tiny words that were uttered today" in relation to a reform priority "a missed opportunity" delivering only "a full 5 seconds of focus on social care".

The lack of any hint as to what will be in the government’s long-promised social care reforms, sparked Simon Bottery, senior fellow at The King’s Fund to tweet (@blimeysimon): "Not only does the can continue to be kicked down the road, we still don’t know the size of the can or what it contains."

Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation, said: ‘‘It is a huge disappointment that the government still has no plan for social care."

At the weekend, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said a social reform plan will be "heading for the statute books" by the end of the year. In response, Labour MP Barbara Keeley, said: “We don’t need any more promises of things by the end of the year."

Matthew Wort, partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, echoed her words, stating: “Government must deliver on its pledge to reform the social care sector now – not later this year. It already missed an opportunity to properly address this in its March Budget. The mention of plans being brought forward is welcome news, but change is needed now.

“We’re already seeing care providers having to assess the viability of their services following cuts from local authorities that are responsible for commissioning care services.

“In particular, we are seeing the first signs that local authorities have taken the Supreme Court’s decision on sleep-in shifts in March 2021 as a sign to decrease their funding for sleep-ins – citing a need to find a sustainable rate. This all points to the bigger issue that the government does not appear to want to recognise that immediate financial investment is needed.”

Cllr James Jamieson, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: “We are pleased that proposals on social care reform will be brought forward but we urgently need a clear timeline. It is vital that this is also urgently converted into concrete funding proposals to provide sustainable support to people of all ages across the country.”

Consign our 'shamefully neglected' social care system to the past

The State Opening of Parliament saw the usual pomp and pageantry but the traditional sight of a packed House of Lords was scrapped to meet Covid restrictions.

Billed as a speech to boost Covid pandemic recovery and ‘Build Back Better’, the Queen's Speech resulted in many care leaders speaking out about what social care reform should look like.

Jane Townson, chief executive of the United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) said the government must: "Put people receiving services at the heart of the debate, empowering them to direct their own support and care, ensuring effective collaboration across integrated care systems and investing in innovation and technology.

“Invest in our care workforce, so the work is rewarded fairly and helps to fuel employment and economic growth; and clarify the responsibility of State and citizen in meeting care costs, helping us all to plan for the future.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: "After an awful lot of dithering the Government has finally nailed its colours to the mast by formally committing to social care reform this year.

“The question now is how good the Government's proposals will be, not whether there will be any at all, so this is an important step forward for the millions of older and disabled people and carers who deserve so much better than what's often on offer to them today.”

On a cap on care costs, Ms Abrahams said high care costs “is not the only unfairness in how care operates today, and it would be a bizarre outcome if we gave more protection to home owners, while leaving those with fewer assets to the current underfunded system."

Age UK urged the government “to invest billions more into care - topping council budgets back up again after having allowed them to fall so disastrously over the last decade.”

The charity wants the government to professionalise the care workforce, giving care workers terms and conditions and a career structure, “that should rightfully be theirs”.

The charity director added that if social care reform is “backed up by the funding required, we will be able to hold our heads up high again as a nation, consigning our current, shamefully neglected social care system to the past, where it belongs."