Social care often takes a backseat when held alongside other governmental priorities like the NHS and education. Providers Unite, a grassroots coalition initiated by Nadra Ahmed CBE and the National Care Association, has grown to include nearly 2,600 care providers, and with an organised rally due to take place 25 February aims to start making a real impact for social care. Care Show’s Content Producer Molly Benson sat down with Victoria Buyer, Project Manager at Providers Unite to discuss the organisation's efforts to gain government recognition for social care.

 

Why do you think social care has struggled to get the recognition from government it deserves?

I think it's been really complicated as to why social care hasn't necessarily got the recognition from government it deserves. There are many other competing priorities around government, which are education, safety, and employment, and quite often social care sits behind the NHS, for example, as not one of the top priorities within government, but it is really about transforming lives. We're already supporting millions of people up and down the country, their families and their carers to live amazing lives, but it's getting much more challenging. So that's what we're hoping to raise in the public's perception is the change about social care and what it means to millions of people.

 

Tell us about the inception of Providers Unite and its core aims

Providers Unite actually sprang up as a great idea by the National Care Association Board and the executive co-chair, Nadra Ahmed CBE, to develop a letter to the chancellor Rachel Reeves in response to her budget announcements of October 2024. In the first instance, the board suggested that we share and invite other colleagues and organisations to co-sign, and from that first initiation of opening for partners to sign, the letter was signed by 150 different organisations. Supported by the Care Workers’ Charity, it has now been signed by over 2,600

individual organisations. Providers Unite grew from the momentum of so many investors and concerned individuals, whether they were partners of care and support services, concerned citizens or providers coming together to say that we are really worried about the future and we need to do something to make our voices heard. Providers Unite is just a grassroots coalition of amazing, willing people coming together to show their support for the social care and support sector and its sustainability.

 

What is the plan on 25 February and what can people expect?

There's a very detailed plan and briefing pack that we're making available to people on our website, so you'll be able to download that, but essentially, it's approximately an hour-long rally. We will be processioning from Church House at the back of Westminster Abbey, all the way through to Parliament Square Gardens, which is just opposite the Treasury. People will be invited to then go into Central Hall and to ‘green card’ their MP. So that's a way to contact your individual MP as a citizen of that constituency and to raise your concerns directly, if they're available and in parliament on that day. Supported people also are the front of our rally, so individuals who are supported and their carers will also be able to try to seek meetings with their own MPs and also share their concerns directly with government. We're exercising our democratic right to share knowledge and information about why social care matters and why the government needs to consider funding us fully for the future.

 

Who is involved?

There's been a huge uptake of different individuals and large and smaller organisations alike. We have got everything from children's social care and support services through to mental health providers, learning disability and autism provision, working age disability services, older adults care, and domiciliary care provision as well. It's going to be a real mixture of people who truly care about social care and seeing it survive. The beauty of what's happening is that it's really lots and lots of individuals, from small care and support providers, supported individuals themselves and their carers, to concerned citizens coming out - it's a really rich tapestry of everything that's brilliant about social care and support happening in our community.

 

What do you think the real-world impacts of the National Insurance Employer contribution and minimum wage increase will be on care providers?

I think it's really difficult to tell what the real-world impact will be in every type of organisation. The rich tapestry of social care and support services across our communities means that they're going to be impacted in multiple ways. There is, however, quite a significant amount of information that was collected through a November survey by the Care Provider Alliance, which indicated that budget impacts may force up to 22% of care providers to close or withdraw services. We also know that there are going to be smaller and more subtle changes: that might be reduced number of hours of staff that can be employed within certain services, such as day opportunities or complex floating support services that are active within communities. And

equally, we may see local authorities reducing packages of care as they have tighter budget pressures to consider and think about how they are going to contract with many social care providers in communities. So, I think we will see lots of different impacts. Some will be withdrawal of services. Some will be reduction of staff, and some unfortunate services will have to close their doors altogether.

 

How do we address the wage issues within social care – where everyone acknowledges the hard work of carers, but most are still on minimum wage?

I think that's a really interesting challenge. We have got legislation being brought forward by this government through the Employment Rights bill, and of course there is the secondary work strand of the Fair Pay agreement, so we hope - and we are advocating clearly that our amazing professional social care and support staff need to be properly paid and remunerated for the high quality professional standards of care and support that they provide. But there is no quick fix to the answer as to how we will get there. It will be a slow and iterative process, and many stakeholders need to be consulted about how we can do that in the most effective way, to retain good quality staff and ensure that we have a social care workforce career development pathway that's attractive to people that have not considered us in the past.

 

What would you like to see over the next few months in terms of real changes?

I think real change starts with communication, so that we are aware that the government is listening, but it would be really fantastic if we were to move forward with more constructive conversation about how we can consider solutions collectively together, how they can engage more to understand all the different facets and assets of community care and support. I think the big change this time has been with the new government that they do recognise all types of care and support services, not just for older adults. However, there's still a long way to go to really understand the unique and the diverse nature of which our providers and our amazing carers and peer workers deliver every day.

 

Outside of the march on 25 February, what are you plans for Providers Unite?

That's difficult to quantify at the moment. Providers Unite is a community, and we always welcome feedback and suggestions. We will have to debrief after the 25 February and then consider what our next actions and steps will be.

Check out the Providers Unite website for more information and resources on how to get involved.