The Department for Health and Social Care has announced further funding for social care during the pandemic. This announcement included £341 million to support adult social care services with the costs of infection prevention, control and testing. A further £138.7 million was announced for rapid testing in adult social care settings from existing Test and Trace funding.

Helen Walker, Chief Executive of Carers UK, said:

“We were concerned that essential social care funds including the Infection Control Fund were not addressed in the Chancellor’s recent budget, so we welcome this funding extension that will help our hard-pressed social care sector continue to manage during the pandemic.

“The Infection Control Fund has been essential to enabling services to open and provide carers with some support. Carers have struggled over the last year, with 81% providing more care than before the pandemic, and many services are still unable to operate at the same capacity they did pre-pandemic. It is vital that the Government provides additional support for carers to be able to access breaks as we move out of lockdown.”