SOCIAL care providers say the Labour government’s conference has so far left the care of older and vulnerable adults out in the cold.
They are disappointed at a lack of any promises of social care reform from the Prime Minister and other senior ministers in Liverpool.
“There is no light at the end of the tunnel for adult social care,” said Mike Padgham, chair of The Independent Care Group.
“We have heard promise after promise on many, many different topics, but nothing, once again for social care.
“We have had a promise to cut NHS waiting lists but without reforming and improving social care, that is just a pipe dream.”
Mr Starmer told the conference that his sister is a care worker and that he wants to build a Britain where carers, who do important and “life-affirming” work, are afforded the same respect as the Prime Minister.
But Mike added: “This is very welcome from the Prime Minister, but his rhetoric does not translate into reforming social care, providing more carers to look after our older, vulnerable and disabled people and reforming a sector where there are 131,000 care worker vacancies and where 1.6m people cannot get the care they need.”
At a fringe meeting, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said social care reform was necessary to address the crisis across healthcare. But he warned that reform was more likely to come in the second term of a Labour government.