The public are generally negative towards social care services and there is strong support for most policies to improve workforce shortages, a major poll has found.

The survey carried out by The Health Foundation was conducted between 24 and 30 November 2022, with a total of 2,063 responses from people aged 16 and older across the UK. 

Two-thirds (63%) said the standard of care had got worse over the last 12 months, with over half (57%) expecting it to continue to get worse over the next 12 months.

The public were fairly negative about social care services in their local area, with only 11% saying they were good and 33% that they were not good.

Positive perceptions towards local social care services declined from May 2022, when 15% of the public said they were good. Very few thought the government had the right policies in place for social care (7%), while those who did not think the government had the right policies increased from 59% in May 2022 to 65% in November 2022.

There was generally strong support for most measures to address workforce shortages in social care, especially improving training and development for existing staff (85%), improving current working conditions in social care, such as paying costs of travelling between people’s homes or sick pay (84%), and a minimum pay rate for care workers, set above the National Living Wage (81%).

There was less (although still in the majority) support for measures which would require changes to current UK immigration policies (ranging from 57% to 65%). There was the least amount of support for one-off bonus payments at 50%.

There was increased support for an increase in National Insurance from May 2022 to fund health and social care (up from 16% to 25%), possibly due to the removal of the Health and Care Levy in between surveys.