Adult Social Care Newsletter | Volume 51

Plus: Attending LGA? Join Us for Drinks on AI in Social Care🍷

Author

Rafe Houston
May 22, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Adult Social Care

Welcome to Adult Social Care, your weekly newsletter offering the latest insights, strategies, and innovations empowering leaders to navigate challenges and drive excellence in the UK’s adult care sector. We're committed to keeping you informed and inspired with fresh ideas to tackle the year ahead.

Heads up! To ensure you continue receiving our newsletters, please add [email protected] to your contact list!

THIS WEEK’S RADAR🎯

  • LGA Drinks Invite: Join UK GovTech’s drinks reception to explore GenAI in social care.

  • NHS Update: New tests, vaccines, and funding—but mental health lags.

  • Staffing Crisis: Overseas recruitment ban worsens care shortages.

  • London Pressure: Visa cuts could push unpaid care to £149B/year.

  • Kent Rating: CQC flags safety gaps and poor health planning.

📅 Tuesday 1st July​

🕕 6:00 – 7:00 PM​

📍LGA Conference, Liverpool​

Are you attending Local Government Association Conference in Liverpool? ​

Join us for a drinks reception hosted by UK GovTech to explore and celebrate the growing role of Generative AI in Children’s and Adults' Services.​

This reception will bring together leaders from local government to share knowledge, reflect on the accomplishments of pioneering councils, and connect over the opportunities GenAI presents for public service delivery.​

Come and enjoy drinks and nibbles, meet peers driving innovation, and help shape the future of AI in social care.​

HEALTHCARE SECTOR UPDATES

NHS initiatives include capital allocation increases for high-performing trusts, a new brain tumour test reducing diagnosis time to two hours, and the introduction of the world’s first NHS gonorrhoea vaccination programme. Research suggests cutting mental health wait times would save £1 billion annually, yet current plans neglect these lists. These developments urge system leaders to address operational gaps with urgency.

WORKFORCE CRISIS

Government reforms restricting overseas recruitment in social care threaten to exacerbate workforce shortages, risking diminished care for elderly and disabled individuals and increased strain on the NHS. Reliance on international staff had previously mitigated a crisis in vacancies, but sustainable domestic recruitment remains hindered by low pay and poor conditions. Immediate, robust solutions and adequate funding are essential to avoid service collapse.

WORKFORCE SHORTAGE

London’s social care sector faces a mounting crisis, as new data projects nearly one million care roles will require filling by 2030, yet recent care worker visa cuts are sharply reducing overseas recruitment. Providers, already straining under workforce shortages, warn that unmet demand will force more working-age adults—primarily women—into unpaid care, with the economic value of their labour predicted to hit £149 billion annually by 2030. Urgent, pragmatic policy adjustments are required to avert increasing hardship for vulnerable families and sustain care provision.

ADULT SOCIAL CARE

Kent County Council's adult social care services have been rated as 'requires improvement' by the Care Quality Commission, highlighting insufficient safeguarding, disparities in health outcomes between inland and coastal areas, and the urgent need for proactive demographic planning. Persistent workforce shortages, funding deficits, and rising service demand threaten effective provision. Immediate, data-driven actions are essential to address health inequalities and prepare for future population pressures.