social care – Saddleworth Liberal Democrats

22Aug 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government accused of crippling social care sector as waiting lists set to double by November

Oldham Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE has criticised the government for leaving social care services to fend for themselves as waiting lists swell. 600 people per day are joining the list of people waiting to be assessed for care and support in England. A survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) suggests that almost 300,000 people are now waiting for an assessment of their needs by social workers, an increase of 90,000 (44%) in five months. Councillor Sykes said: “The government is leaving social care services £10 billion short and expecting already stretched councils to plug the gap. Social care waiting lists are getting out of control and with price hikes and a hard winter ahead, things are only going to get worse. The…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Calm during Council chaos

Borough news, CSE, health and social care

In another extraordinarily chaotic Council meeting last night, councillors from all parties managed to put aside rancour for a few minutes to support a Liberal Democrat motion on child safeguarding. Mark Kenyon, Liberal Democrat councillor for Grotton, Springhead & Lees, said: ”The recent report into CSE in the borough is a challenge for the Council to do things differently. My motion, which was passed last night, is a straightforward response that we can do straight away – it will mean that every single time council makes a decision, it’ll be explicitly weighed against the potential risk to children and on the level of Council spending locally. “A lot of the time politics in this borough seems to be a pantomime and last night’s meeting was no exception. I’m appalled with…

18Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Oldham care homes ranked in bottom 10 in the country

Borough news, health and social care

A ‘revolution’ in social care funding is required to address Oldham’s failing care homes according to Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE. Research carried out by the online care home comparison site ‘Lottie’, found that Oldham ranked within the bottom ten local authorities for care home provision in the UK. Councillor Sykes said: “This is a damning revelation. The UK has an ageing population. It’s estimated that the demand for social care will rise 50% to nearly 1.5 million people by 2039. Yet in this year’s Queen’s Speech, the Conservative government haven’t brought forward a single measure on social care. Nothing short of a social care funding revolution is needed if we are going to address this problem. “The government must act to ensure that social care does not…

08Jul 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Government leaves local councils £10 billion short for social care costs

Borough news, health and social care

Oldham’s Liberal Democrats have slammed Conservative ministers after research from the Conservative dominated County Councils’ Network revealed that the governments planned social care reforms would leave a £10 billion funding gap in the sector. Government Ministers had previously said that local councils would have to find their own ways to raise funds. Oldham’s Liberal Democrat Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE said: “While Conservative MPs worry about who the next Prime Minister will be, the real issues like social care funding are being side-lined. The government is telling councils to cover the costs when everyone knows the money isn’t there. All the while, the social care sector is haemorrhaging staff and the government won’t even listen to their own Conservative colleagues in local government.” In the wake of the pandemic and…

17Jun 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Foster carers left months without reply as Oldham Council slammed for inaction

Borough news, health and social care

Oldham’s foster carers have been left waiting months for a response after raising concerns about the cost-of-living with senior council figures. Shaw representative and Liberal Democrat Opposition Leader councillor Howard Sykes MBE called the situation “shameful” as he and his colleagues called for answers on behalf of local foster carers. Oldham Council has so far been unable to provide answers to foster carers in the Borough who have raised concerns about making ends meet during the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. (See attached letter which is one of many councillors have received at the end of March/early April). Councillor Sykes said: “This is an incredibly stressful time for foster carers who are rightly raising concerns about Oldham Council’s policy towards supporting them financially. Other local councils offer foster carers reimbursement through council…

30May 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Sunak treating unpaid carers with “disdain” amid £193m cut to support

Parliamentary news

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has accused Rishi Sunak of treating family carers with “disdain,” after they were left out of the government’s cost of living package. The Carer’s Allowance was excluded from the list of benefits qualifying for additional support under the plans set out by the Chancellor yesterday. It comes as new analysis by the Liberal Democrats shows unpaid carers are facing a cut to the Carer’s Allowance of £207 each this year once soaring inflation is factored in. It means the country’s one million unpaid carers receiving the Carer's Allowance are facing a combined hit of £193 million this year. The Government is increasing Carer’s Allowance by 3.1% from £67.60 a week to £69.70, or an increase of just 30p a day, despite inflation rocketing to 9%…

03Jan 2022 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Number of care homes falls by 1,700 since 2015

Parliamentary news

Liberal Democrats have called for urgent action to address the growing social care crisis, after new figures reveal the number of care homes across England has fallen by 10% since 2015. The data, acquired by the Liberal Democrats from the House of Commons Library, also shows that while the average number of beds per care home rose from 27 to 30 during that time, 5,110 beds have been lost overall. Some areas have lost 40 per cent of care home beds, exposing a dangerous postcode lottery in the availability of residential social care. Last month it emerged that hotels were being converted into temporary care facilities, with staff flown in from Spain and Greece, to relieve the strain on NHS hospital beds as over 10,000 beds were occupied by medically…

01Dec 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Carers taken for granted by Conservative Government

Parliamentary news

Responding to the Government's new white paper proposals on social care, Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey MP said: “Carers and their loved ones deserve far more support, but with these proposals the Conservative Government is taking them for granted yet again. “More than 1.5 million people are missing out on the care they need. To pretend you can fix that with no new funding, and without addressing the huge shortage of staff, is just insulting people’s intelligence. “Boris Johnson has broken promise after promise on social care. He’s hitting people with an unfair tax rise while failing to protect people from losing their homes. “Social care is far too important for another Boris bodge. Let’s finally have the serious cross-party talks we need to agree a long-term solution…

23Nov 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Social Care vote: Another broken Tory promise

Parliamentary news

Responding to tonight's vote on the Health and Care Bill in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: “Tonight, the Conservatives have rammed through half-baked proposals which break a promise to struggling families and makes savings exclusively from the least well off. “Far from levelling up, these changes double down on inequality between the rich and poor. Now, struggling families face the double whammy of tax hikes and potentially losing their home to fund spiraling care costs. "Liberal Democrats opposed these unfair and divisive plans and will continue to fight for a fair and long term solution which will address the social care crisis facing families every day."

22Nov 2021 by Sam Al-Hamdani

Social care plans are “two broken promises in one”

Parliamentary news

Commenting ahead of the vote on the government's social care plans, Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care Spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said: "These social care plans are two broken promises in one. "Boris Johnson promised in his manifesto not to raise national insurance tax and that no-one would have to sell their home to pay for care. Now struggling families face being hammered by unfair tax rises, while still facing losing their homes to fund care costs. "The Liberal Democrats will oppose these unfair, divisive plans in Parliament this week. We will continue fighting for a fair and long-term solution to the social care crisis."