Government must produce long term plan for adult social care in England this year, says watchdog

Short term funding fixes and the failure to produce a long term vision for adult social care in England is hindering planning, innovation, and investment in the sector, the spending watchdog has concluded.

The National Audit Office (NAO) also warned that current accountability and supervision of the care system were ineffective for overseeing the market, in a report published on 25 March.1

The Department of Health and Social Care has increased its focus on adult social care in response to covid-19, the NAO found, but it has not fulfilled previous commitments to tackle recruitment and retention challenges for the 1.5 million people who work …