Epsom & Ewell’s Liberal Democrat MP joins local campaigners in Parliament to call for action on social care
Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom & Ewell, Helen Maguire, joined campaigners from the constituency in Westminster today (25th February) as they held a rally calling on the Government to address the crisis in social care.
In an unprecedented move, the social care sector has united to protest, reflecting the shocking scale of the crisis facing care. Helen Magure MP called for the Government to exempt care providers from their “self-defeating” national insurance rise and to complete their social care review within the year, currently it is scheduled to take three years.
In 2023-24, 41,000 requests were made by disabled and older people in Surrey, with only 18,000 accessing care services from the local authority.
It comes as the Liberal Democrats have released new research which the Party commissioned from the House of Commons Library. The analysis showed that since 2017/18, when the Government first introduced ring fenced funding for social care to help councils with the spiralling costs they have shelled out close to £50 billion in top ups.
The amount that the Government spends per year on these top ups for councils has soared more than five-fold to almost £10 billion a year. Previous Liberal Democrat research also revealed that councils are having to pay a staggering £53,352 a year in nursing costs per pensioner, up more than £24,000 on 2015/16’s level of £29,276 a year - an 82% jump.
It means that social care can now account for up to 80% of councils’ budgets, many of whom have already had to make vast cuts to other services.
Recent research by the Local Government Association also found that investing in earlier preventative support in social care would improve people’s lives and save £3.17 for every pound spent. The report found potential savings to the public purse could reach £11.1 billion if preventative health and social care is scaled up across the country.
The crisis in social care has devastating consequences across the whole health care system. Care England said last year that over 45% of hospital discharge delays were linked to social care with one in seven of all hospital beds currently being taken up by people who are medically fit to be discharged.
Currently hospitals are experiencing bed occupancy levels of 96%, safe levels are those that are below 85%. This contributes to long delays in A&Es as people cannot be admitted into hospital as no beds are available with previous analysis suggesting that long A&E waits were linked to 50,000 deaths last year.
The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to address the demonstrating care providers’ concerns today and commit to completing their review into social care within the year, not the three that it is currently scheduled for. This would help stabilise local government finances at a time they are in turmoil and get people the care they need much faster.
The Party has also said that the government should scrap its national insurance rise for care providers, which could force many to cut back services or even close.
Liberal Democrat MP for Epsom & Ewell, Helen Maguire said:
“I have heard countless stories from people in our area of the terrible difficulties people are going through to find care for themselves and their loved ones. The anxiety this causes families cannot be overstated.
“The Conservative Party’s shameful neglect has pushed the sector to the brink but the Labour Government’s response to this crisis has been shocking. They have put even more pressure on care providers through their self-defeating national insurance rise and have kicked the can down the road on reforms.
”We need this to be a wake-up call for Ministers. As we have seen today, the sector, people in need of care and council budgets simply cannot wait any longer.
“The government needs to scrap its misguided jobs tax for care providers and complete their social care review within the year. Only then will we see the care in Epsom & Ewell available when people need it.”