Mike Padgham, chair of the Independent Care Group, has held “constructive talks” with shadow care minister Andrew Gwynne at Westminster.

The talks covered how Labour would tackle the crisis in the care of older and vulnerable people if it wins the general election.

Padgham said: “It was a very positive and constructive meeting. It was encouraging to hear that Mr Gwynne understood the crisis in social care and the importance of tackling it.

“He reiterated Labour’s pledge to support the social care workforce within its first 100 days in office, which is clearly good news for a sector that is suffering from 152,000 vacancies.

“We also discussed the need for a greater social care presence on the ICBs, local authorities driving down prices, a stronger role for the CQC in commissioning and financial transparency.

“I also invited him up to North Yorkshire to see social care delivery on the frontline.”

Padgham took the opportunity to give the shadow minister a copy of ICG’s Five Pillars of Social Care Reform document, which sets out how it believes the crisis in the sector should be tackled.

The five pillars are:

•       Ring fence a percentage of GDP to be spent on providing social care to those who already receive it and the 1.6 million who can’t get it.

•       Create a unified National Care Service, incorporating health and social care.

•       Set a National Minimum Wage per hour for care staff on a par with NHS.

•       Set up an urgent social care task force to oversee reform.

•       Fix ‘fair price for care’ tariffs for things like care beds and home care visits.