National Care Forum member, Community Integrated Care, has launched an innovative programme to help people who work in social care and the people they support with rising energy costs.

‘Taking Charge’ offers vital support and guidance to help significantly cut energy bills and save people hundreds of pounds.

Professor Vic Rayner OBE, chief executive of NCF, said: “The eye watering increases in energy costs is a very serious concern among our members, even after the government capped prices through the Energy Bill Relief and Energy Price Guarantee Schemes.

“For social care workers, the steep rises in the cost of living and energy costs alongside the continued reluctance of government to guarantee the funding for better pay, terms and conditions, means that the next few months will be very hard. The lives and wellbeing of the people who access care and support services are also significantly impacted, and many are not enjoying the same support the government is giving to other households.

“It’s encouraging to see such an innovative, co-produced, support programme from Community Integrated Care. This will provide much needed practical support to people accessing care services and care workers. However, this can’t be the responsibility of providers alone, we also need more action from government.”

The NCF is calling for:

• A guarantee that adult social care providers are defined as a vulnerable sector as part of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme following April 2023
• A guarantee that those people accessing adult social care support will be able to access the Energy Price Guarantee following April 2023
• Additional, immediate support for providers to reduce the pressures facing social care workers and meet other operational costs due to rising cost of living and inflation.