Care England, the largest representative body of independent adult social care providers, has today acknowledged the DHSC’s new staff capacity fund.

Professor Martin Green OBE, Chief Executive of Care England, says:

“Care England is pleased that the Government listened to the sector regarding its deep concerns about banning staff movement. We want to work with the DHSC to ensure that the Staff Capacity Fund delivers to the front line and is suitably flexible to reflect the crisis whereby providers are struggling with staff illness and absenteeism in the same way as their colleagues in the NHS are. Staff are our most precious resource and we want to do all that we can to support them especially in these incredibly difficult times”.

The new fund, will give £120 million for local authorities to boost staffing levels. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care

Although the details are yet to be announced, Care England would like to see it being used in a flexible way to support recruitment and retention, for example some ideas might be:

Means to make bonus payments to thank and support existing staff who have worked tirelessly over this last ten months to care for people (as has been done by the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales)
‘Golden Hello’ payments
Adult social care providers to have access to local authority and NHS occupational health schemes and benefits
Support around nurse placements or apprenticeship schemes
More proactive support around mental health in partnership with the NHS
A focus on staff specialised staff services, in particular services for adults with learning disabilities.

Care England has invested a lot of resources into a new campaign #We Care for England which aims to improve the image of care homes thus aiding recruitment and retention: We care as nurses, hairdressers, cooks and care workers. Brothers and sisters, mums and dads. When you need it most, we care for England. Instagram, Facebook.

Martin Green continues:

“We have concerns about the way in which this fund is to be delivered and will be asking the DHSC to keep close tabs on the dissemination in order that funds arrive at the front line where they are needed and that no money is wasted in a spaghetti of bureaucracy. At this time of crisis, every moment and every penny counts”.