Care conundrum

The price of political deadlock

A CONSEQUENCE of the Brexit paralysis is a complete lack of focus on other policies which are also fundamental to the country’s future success and prosperity. One such issue is the skills shortage from the need to do more to promote degreelevel apprenticeships to policies which enable the recruitment – and retention – of sufficient staff in the social care sector.

Even though the ramifications of an ageing population were welldocumented long before Brexit entered the political lexicon, the care system is still propped up goodwill because levels of pay remain the absolute minimum because funding at a local, regional and national level has simply failed to keep pace with the growing, and self-evident, demand for such services.

With 160,000 social care workers in the North earning below the real Living Wage according to hard-hitting research published by the IPPR think-tank today, the case for reform in the forthcoming Green Paper is a compelling one.

Yet, while such a move would be welcomed by carers, and those considering a career in this sector, it is very ominous that politicians have spent even longer trying to devise a viable funding model than they have done on Brexit, and they are still no nearer to reaching a consensus.