Our submission to HCLG Committee inquiry into long-term funding of adult social care

We have submitted a response on behalf of the housing association sector to the Housing, Communities and Local Government (HCLG) Committee inquiry into the long-term funding of adult social care.

Our submission addresses the following questions from the government:

• How has coronavirus changed the landscape for long-term funding reform of the adult social care sector?
• How should additional funds for the adult social care sector be raised?
• How can the adult social care market be stabilised?
• How can the adult social care market be incentivised to compete on quality and/or innovation?

Our submission outlines how more support for supported housing, alongside a properly funded social care system, will help save both the government and the NHS money in the long-term. We are asking the government to make additional funds available to:

• Recognise the importance of support, as well as care, in making supported housing work.
• Provide long-term certainty with sufficient funding and a strategic vision for social care.

Furthermore, the adult social care sector could be incentivised to drive quality and innovation by:

• Demonstrating the importance of quality of life and choice and control for people receiving support. Acknowledging the cost savings provided by supported housing, an integral part of the place-based approach to health and care.

Supported housing offers some of the most vulnerable people in our society choice and control over their lives, allowing them to live in a home environment rather in institutional care.