The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for action to fix the UK’s “broken” social care system in his New Year message.
Archbishop Justin Welby visited Bradbury Grange, a care home in Whitstable run by Methodist Homes, to record his message, in which he looked forward to the publication of a report on social care he has commissioned with the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell.
“It will offer a hopeful vision of our society,” he said.
“One where no one is held back, over-looked or treated as a burden – where families and unpaid carers get support too.”
Care and Support Reimagined will be published on 24 January.
The chair of the archbishops’ commission that wrote the report, Dr Anna Dixon, said it would address the need for “a new settlement that gives choice and control to people who draw on care and support, equips and empowers communities, and offers far greater support and recognition to unpaid carers”.
Her co-chair, the Bishop of Carlisle, James Newcome, added: “We are making the case, rooted deeply in our Christian convictions and values, that our whole understanding of social care should reflect the aspirations of people who draw on care and support, paid and unpaid carers, and wider society.”
There are just over 17,000 care homes in the UK, which house roughly 400,000 residents and employ just over 750,000 people to care for them.
Archbishop Welby noted the challenges care homes face, with rising costs and difficulties hiring and retaining staff.
“Why work as a carer when you might get paid more in a less demanding job?” he asked.
He said that repairing the social care system would demand “action from all of us: you me, families, communities and government”.
The archbishop continued: “Caring goes to the heart of what it means to be human. It’s hard, but it can also be the most life-giving thing we ever do. It comes back to that essential lesson: we need each other.”
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