We have been thinking about Baroness Casey’s speech and subsequent letter to the minister, and we welcome her frank and powerful assessment of the urgent challenges facing adult social care.
Her recognition of the complexity of the health and social care systems, and the difficulty that this presents to people are an accurate reflection of people’s experience. It was heartening to hear Louise Casey’s comments on parity for adults at risk, and for a greater level of national oversight.
Safeguarding across the life course
As an organisation working across childhood, adolescence and adulthood, we know that safeguarding does not sit neatly within age-based systems. Our work on Transitional Safeguarding shows how gaps between Children’s and Adults’ Services can leave young people (mid-teens to mid-twenties) at risk, and how connected, developmentally-attuned approaches can prevent harm.
Failures in safeguarding adults can have profound consequences for them, and those around them – of all ages, therefore effective safeguarding relies on strong, connected services across the life course. When services for older people are overstretched, families, particularly women and young carers, are impacted most. We therefore welcome a renewed focus on safeguarding adults as a national priority and as an essential part of a whole family, whole-life-course approach.
Strengthening safeguarding
We recognise the significant work already underway across the sector to strengthen practice, improve coordination, and protect those at greatest risk whilst also honouring and upholding their rights. We strongly support Baroness Casey’s call for a new National Safeguarding Board with statutory responsibility and national oversight, and we are pleased to see that she is requesting a review of statutory duties, and the existing framework.
There are gaps in the current framework, particularly the absence of ‘exploitation’ as a recognised form of abuse. Our recent and emerging work highlights that this is a significant area of risk, and there is a lack of national guidance around working with adults who are being exploited, or who are at risk of exploitation.
It will be important that the focus on safeguarding holds people’s rights to protection and freedom in careful balance, learning from people’s lived experience and nuanced practice wisdom.
Valuing and protecting the workforce
We wholeheartedly agree with Baroness Casey’s reflections on the workforce. Her words that the proliferation of zero hours contracts, people not being paid travel time, or mileage are tantamount to exploitation may feel strong, they are an indictment of how chronically undervalued the social care workforce can feel.
78% of all care workers are women [...] 42% of non-residential care workers are still on zero-hour contracts. And we also know that they're not always paid for travel time or mileage. They have no guarantee often what their hours will be week in week out. They do not have proper terms and conditions for things like sick pay, maternity pay, or indeed the odd holiday. [...] that is tantamount to exploiting the weakness of the care workforce.
Baroness Casey
In 2021 we highlighted research showing that adult social care must take a careful look at its own supply chains – particularly the risks related to forced labour and adult social care. There is an uncomfortable provocation in her words, and we should not shy away from it.
Ensuring all parts of social care remain visible
We also welcome the attention given to dementia and motor neurone disease and the need for improved support. At the same time, we are keen to ensure that the wider social care system, including the vital support for young people entering adulthood, working age people and people with learning disabilities, remains central to the conversation.
Social care must be understood as a vital source of practical, relational and community-based support that enables people to live safely and well across the life course.
A shared vision for social care
The ongoing national conversation on adult social care is an important opportunity to build greater public understanding of what social care is and why it matters. Awareness remains low, and this dialogue has the potential to help create a clearer picture of the value of social care to people’s lives as well as the pressures facing the system and the changes needed.
As an organisation working with children, young people, families and adults, the National Children’s Bureau is continuing to contribute to this effort and support an informed, constructive national discussion. We want to help ensure that the voices of those with lived experience – children, young people, adults and families – are heard as part of this national discussion, and that the conversation leads to a clearer, more united vision for the future of social care.
We look forward to continuing our work in this space to ensure that the independent review strengthens safeguarding, supports whole families, and delivers a system that empowers, supports and protects people of all ages.
Adult exploitation
This resource provides an introduction to the exploitation of adults, particularly those who experience multiple needs and exclusions. It aims to support readers across social care specialisms as we work together to formulate effective service responses.
Forced labour and adult social care: Leaders' Briefing (2021)
The subject of forced labour, under the umbrella term of modern slavery, falls within the remit of adult safeguarding in England following the inclusion of modern slavery as a form of abuse in the Care Act 2014. This resource aims to support leaders and practitioners to consider new ways of conceptualising and addressing prevention, risk factors and responses.
Transitional Safeguarding: transformation, not just training
As the concept of Transitional Safeguarding gains traction around the country, Research in Practice has been privileged to work with many local areas, supporting them to develop and shape local innovation.