27 Jun 2018

VODG welcomes parliamentary committees’ calls for social care reform

The Health and Social Care and Housing, Communities and Local Government Committees have published it first report. The Committees address a number of issues that VODG and the sector have long campaigned for.

The Committees describe a sector that is not fit to respond to current needs. It recognises that a funding solution should be delivered by a cross-party parliamentary commission.

The report also make the welcome call for policy reform, including the remit of the delayed Green Paper process, largely focused on older people, to be expanded to include ‘working age’ disabled people.

On the specific issue of the sleep in payments crisis the report recognises that backdated pay for sleep-ins also presents an immediate risk to organisations’ financial stability and must be addressed urgently.

Responding to the report VODG chief executive Dr Rhidian Hughes said:

“This report speaks to the issues and challenges facing the sector. It is a welcome contribution and we add our voice and call on government to fund and fix social care.”

Rhidian Hughes goes on to say:

“VODG has argued for an integrated policy approach to address the needs of older and disabled people because one group may overshadow the other at a time when we need whole system reform of the sector. We welcome the committees’ recommendations and urge government to act on them.”

Rhidian Hughes remarks:

“Government cannot continue to look at its shoes whenever the sleep in payments issue is raised. This is a crisis of the government’s own making through its mistaken guidance. It is government that must step in and fund the backdated pay which it needs to do without any further delay.”

VODG’s evidence to the committee can be accessed here and our joint response on sleep in payments, as part of the #SolveSleepIns Alliance, can be accessed here. VODG’s True Costs report pinpoints key challenges facing voluntary sector providers and calls for vital action as the need for support is growing just as funding for that support is dwindling.