Covid-19 Winter Plan for Adult Social Care

SIA has welcomed the publication of the Coronavirus Winter Plan for Adult Social Care 2020-21, but remains hugely concerned about the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the social care sector and the huge pressures care workers in all settings face as winter approaches. SIA is also very disappointed that despite Boris Johnson announcing in his first speech as Prime Minister in July 2019 that:“We will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared” no such clear plan with a long-term, achievable and sustainable vision has yet been produced.

The Coronavirus Winter Plan for Adult Social Care 2020-21 applies to all settings and contexts in which people receive adult social care, and sets out the key elements of national support for the sector over the coming winter.

The stated aim of the Plan is to ensure that “high-quality, safe and timely care is provided to everyone who needs it, whilst protecting people who need care, their carers and the social care workforce from Covid-19.” This includes people’s own homes, residential care homes and nursing homes, and other community settings.

The publication of the Plan came with the announcement of an additional £546m Infection Control Fund, to help with the extra costs of infection prevention and control measures – including the payment of care workers who are self-isolating in line with Government guidelines. In addition, free PPE will be made available for all adult social care providers and care workers through to March 2021.

Minister of State for Care, Helen Whately MP, acknowledged that this is “a critical phase in our efforts to track, contain and control the spread of Covid-19 in our communities.”  She went on to state that “The last seven months have been the most pressured, stressful and unrelenting that any of us, working in the health and care system can remember … I am hugely grateful to local authority staff, the social care workforce and our NHS colleagues, who have continued to do such an incredible job looking after those in their care.”

Download the full Plan from the Government website.