The King’s Speech: what next?
Last week the King’s Speech laid out the new Government’s key legislations for the months ahead.
Although several of the Bills announced set out an agenda for change, we were disappointed that social care funding was not directly addressed.
Here is a round-up of the legislations relevant to our sector.
Employment Rights Bill – increasing workers’ rights and establishing a Fair Pay Agreement (FPA) in the adult social care sector.
We and the national sector continue to call for better conditions, pay and recognition for the expert staff that deliver insurmountable ASC support to thousands each day. 
We welcome Adult Social Care being the sector which will benefit from establishing a FPA and hope this will become a permanent fixture for us and other sectors struggling with recognition and financial support. See page 20 for full details.
We have long called for better recognition and support, which is why it’s always a theme of our annual Surrey Care Awards – you will see that this theme of recognition and support is one we run through the whole awards event.
Mental Health Bill – ensuring detention and treatment happens only when necessary. The Government intends to further limit the extent to which people with a learning disability and / or autistic people can be detained.
We have been calling for reform in the detainment of those with learning difficulties and autism under the current mental health act, so are pleased that we can expect to see a reduction in the time that working age adults are detained.
We continue to advocate for Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards reform, and our thanks to members who took part in a survey a few weeks ago which we hope will go towards informing the Mental Health Act.
Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill – would make it the law for ethnic minorities and those with disabilities to have full right to equal pay, and mandatory reporting from larger employers.
We are incredibly fortunate to work with so many providers who work with their clients to enable better access to work and pay and welcome this legislation to move towards equal pay for those with disabilities and for ethnic minorities. See page 77 for full details.
We are are pleased with the new Government’s far-reaching reforms, however there is room for the Minister to more directly address the challenges facing social care. To be able to do this, social care needs to be focused on separately and not seen as part of other reforms, which are also welcome but need to be differentiated from badly needed support for the social care sector.
As Vic Rayner, Chief Executive of the National Care Forum said: “There is some powerful legislation proposed…that will support the development of the economic contribution of social care to communities and those working in care and support…However, the King’s Speech was disappointingly devoid of any detail on how, and equally importantly, when wider reform of adult social care would come forward. The new government must act with urgency and purpose to begin the reform of the social care system now.”