Dear Constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about social care and the Spring Budget.

There are currently 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK and this is projected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040, so it is crucial that the social care system is set up to meet the needs of those affected by dementia.

The Chancellor has provided significant additional funding to the NHS and adult social care in England. Measures introduced at the Spring Budget will protect levels of funding for the NHS in England in real terms in 2024-25 by providing an extra £2.5 billion for 2024-25 meaning a total budget of £164.9 billion.

The vision at the heart of the Government’s reform plans is for an adult social care workforce where people feel supported, recognised, and have opportunities to develop and progress. The Government’s reforms will provide the workforce with more support to develop and progress within their careers and will improve the quality, safety, and personalisation of care.

The Next Steps to put People at the Heart of Care plan, published in April 2023, set out how the Government is investing up to £700 million over this year and next, building on over £100 million already invested in 2022/23. This included substantial investment on workforce reform including a new care workforce pathway, a new level 2 qualification, investment in apprenticeships and funding to pay for thousands of learning and development courses for social care staff.

Since then, the Government has announced an additional £570 million funding boost for local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care workforce capacity, including to boost care worker pay.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Yours,

EDWARD LEIGH MP