Dear Member,
UKHCA Chair, Mike Padgham, has written a letter highlighting the important of the homecare sector and thanking homecare workers for that fantastic job that they do. The letter has been published in the Guardian Online and is reproduced below.
Kind Regards,
Policy and Communication Team
In the furore over the Equality and Human Rights Commission report and this week's Age UK's revelation over huge cutbacks in social care spending, I fear the excellent and vital work carried out by home-care workers has been forgotten. It is important to set the record straight and reassure the public that domiciliary care is in safe hands.
Recent inspections by the Care Quality Commission found that the percentage of people supported by home-care agencies rated good or excellent has risen from 87% to 93%/
This is a vital sector and the need for public confidence to be high is crucial. There are more than 6,880 registered home-care providers across the UK, 84% of which are in the independent and voluntary sectors. These organisations employ over 440,900 home-care workers, who deliver over 6.65m hours of care per week to around 600,500 service users, valued at £4.8bn per annum.
Of course, home-care provision can improve, but to achieve that more realistic levels of funding will need to be ploughed into social care in general. Shortcomings cannot always be blamed on a lack of funding, but a £610m cut from social care by local authorities in the past year is not going to help.
In the meantime, home-care workers do a fantastic job, often under tremendous pressure and in all weathers, and for that we, and their grateful clients, are very thankful.
Mike Padgham
Chair, United Kingdom Home Care Association