Care campaigners are calling on the main political parties to “be brave” and put social care reform alongside NHS pledges in their general election manifestos.

Social care provider organisation, The Independent Care Group (ICG), said the sector had waited long enough for change.

Chair Mike Padgham said: “We expect that the main political parties will be working on their manifestos, and we appeal to them to include reform of social care – for the sake of those people who cannot get care and the thousands more who are joining them each day.

“Decades of under-funding, neglect and broken promises have left social care on its knees, with care and nursing homes and home care providers closing down, leaving more and more people without care. We need bold action, now.”

The call came after research by Hft and Care England revealed that that 40% of adult social care providers were in deficit in 2023 with 43% closing services or handing back contracts, 18% offering care to fewer people and 39% considering exiting the market altogether.

In addition, the Care Quality Commission has revealed that at the end of 2023 there were 518 fewer care homes in England than at the same time the previous year – a loss of 14,169 beds.

“We need to create a new social care narrative – one that promotes the profession as a rewarding, attractive and properly paid career, an attractive place to work and build a career,” Padgham said.

“Reforming social care is an opportunity to go down in history as the government that created a new era of care for older and vulnerable adults – meeting the needs of those 2.5 million people over 50 who currently can’t get care; boosting the 1.6 million people who work in the sector and adding to the £55.7 billion contribution the sector makes to the economy – in the process.

“It is likely to take two terms of government before we can return social care to an even keel, so we need work to begin straight away. The number of people aged over 65 will rise from 10.5 million to 13.8 million by 2035 and we will need an extra 480,000 people in the social care workforce to provide care to meet extra demand. We have to start planning for that and we have to start doing so now.”