Leaders have lamented the continuing neglect of social care following the publication of the NHS workforce plan on Friday.

Nadra Ahmed, co chairman of the National Care Association (NCA), called for a fully funded plan for the social care sector, while Kirsty Matthews, chief executive of the learning disability charity, Hft, said social care remained the “poor cousin” of the NHS.

Ahmed said: “Although we acknowledge that the NHS workforce plan is a good start, I believe there is a missed opportunity.  With all the rhetoric around integration this was the perfect opportunity to create parity between the services and invest in social care at the same time. A social care plan is vital if we want to make the health service run smoothly and reduce pressures within both the health and the care sector.”

Matthews said the social care workforce had received “little to no attention from the government,” despite the number of vacancies increasing by 52% on the previous year to 165,000 in 2021/22 and a vacancy rate of 10.7%, with shortages forcing over a half of providers turning down admissions and nearly a fifth closing services.

She added: “Rather than a substantial plan to revitalise and stabilise the adult social care workforce, we instead receive reductions in investment – from the £500 million pledged in the 2021 social care white paper, to just £250 million announced in April this year.

“It is worrying that the government still does not understand that the workforce challenges facing our sector have a direct impact on the NHS, with unmet care need contributing to admissions and delayed discharges. Without a plan for adult social care, I am concerned that efforts to support our heath service will fail.

“Our staff, and particularly adults with learning disabilities, deserve more and I urge the government to step forward with a plan to address the challenges we face, and ensure our workforce stability long into the future.”

A Department of Health & Social Care spokesperson said: “We know social care has pressing workforce needs too, and that’s why at the Autumn Statement we made available up to £7.5 billion this year and next to boost capacity in social care.

“Social care is different to the NHS – it is comprised of many independent businesses and it is right the government doesn’t do workforce planning for them.

“We expect increasing the training of nurses, AHPs and nursing associates will go some way to alleviate the pressures in the adult social care sector as some of the people who train in these professions will choose to work in social care when they are qualified.”