Resetting the relationship between local and national government. Read our Local Government White Paper
Social care is not simply a set of services, it is about supporting people to live the lives they want to lead. It is used in every community when needed to enable adults of all ages to grow and sustain their wellbeing.
Everyone should be able to live the life they want to lead; to feel human.
In this way, social care is common to us all.
Adult social care is fundamentally about people’s rights and relationships. At its best, it helps ensure that everyone is able to pursue the things that matter most to them, irrespective of their age or conditions.
Addressing immediate- and longer-term funding pressures remains essential. Alongside this we want to see bold and ambitious action on prevention across health and social care. If done effectively and jointly with councils and the NHS as equal partners, backed up by better use of shared data, this has the potential to improve people’s outcomes and reduce demand and costs.
It is essential that the NHS also focuses more on prevention, and that other priorities are not allowed to crowd this out. Too often the focus is exclusively on immediate challenges for the NHS and how social care can support discharge. This can frame social care as an adjunct of the NHS when it has crucial value in its own right.
We are also seeking early action on workforce planning, recognising that there is no such thing as a ‘standard care worker’, and to maintain momentum on gathering better data about outcomes and value for money through continued engagement on the Care Data Matters strategy.
For the new government, we suggest our Care Act - Ten years on from Royal Assent publication should be required reading.
Highlighted pages
The Care Act 2014: Ten years on from Royal Assent
A decade on since the Care Act received Royal Assent, our publication reflects on the extent to which the aims of the legislation have been achieved and, where they have not, what changes are needed to deliver fully on the Act’s ambitions.
The value of adult social care to us all: Joint statement to National Party Leaders
A group of organisations set out the importance of recognising the role social care plays at every level of society ahead of the 2024 General Election.
'The lives we want to lead' – the LGA green paper for adult social care
The local government green paper received more than 540 submissions and the responses made it clear beyond doubt: doing nothing is no longer an option.