MP backs plan for free personal care for older people

FAISAL Rashid, MP for Warrington South, has backed Labour plans to introduce free personal care for older people who need social care.
Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate, he attacked the Government’s record on social care, noting that as of today, 1.4 million older people are currently going without the care they need.
Councils have had their budgets reduced by an average of nearly 50 per cent since 2010.
Warrington Borough Council has had £137 million cut from its budget, with at least another £22 million of savings to find by next year.
Nationally, there are now 8,000 fewer care home beds than there were in 2015.
Labour plan to introduce free personal care for older people, providing help with daily tasks such as getting in and out of bed, bathing and washing, and preparing meals in their own homes and residential care. Other proposals announced by Labour include:
• Addressing the funding gap in social care
• Supporting local authorities to directly provide, rather than outsource, care
• Supporting the care workforce better, to ensure that older people receive support from trained staff who have the time and skills needed to provide care.
Currently, only people with low levels of savings receive publicly-funded personal care. People with dementia face the highest costs for care.
Labour’s plans will more than double the number of people receiving state-funded care and reduce the number of people facing catastrophic costs for their care. Free personal care will ensure people with dementia receive the same care as those with other conditions, reduce the burden on unpaid carers and benefit the NHS by reducing delayed transfers of care from hospital and admissions to care homes and hospitals.
As part of the National Care Service, Labour has pledged to raise standards of care by ending the use of zero-hour contracts, ensuring that carers are paid a real living wage, including for travel time; end 15-minute care visits; and improve access to training and development for care staff.
Mr Rashid said: “Making sure the sick and elderly are treated with care is the measure of any civilised society. I believe that we should not be judged by our personal wealth, but by our compassion for those in most need. But clearly this is not an ethos shared by our current government.
“Social care is a policy area crippled by government inaction and market failure, causing immense hardship and misery for those who need care and those who provide it.
“As a former New Town, Warrington is seeing a significant increase in our vulnerable older population from those who were drawn to Warrington for work and a better life in the 1970s and 80s.
“It is high time our political leaders showed the courage necessary to rise to the challenge and fix this mess, ensure the safety and security of older generations and treat care workers with the respect they deserve.”