Because I suspect some will start on that they never saw any Lib policies on care - from the 2024 manifesto:
Care
In addition, we will:
Provide truly personalised care that empowers individuals by:
Trialling personal health and social care budgets so that individuals are in control of what care they receive.
Rolling out digital platforms for care users to develop networks, relationships and opportunities, connecting with care workers, friends and family, voluntary groups and more.
Improving communication standards so carers can support care users to co-produce and monitor care plans.
Developing a digital strategy for tech-enabled lives.
Establishing an Independent Living Taskforce to help people live independently in their own homes, as set out in chapter 10.
End the postcode lottery of service provision and provide national, high-quality care for everyone who needs it by:
Providing predictable, consistent funding for free personal care.
Increasing transparency and accountability as to how money is spent through local authorities.
Creating a National Care Agency to set national minimum standards of care.
Enabling individuals to transfer their care package so they don’t feel stuck in their current locality due to their care needs.
Give unpaid carers a fair deal by:
Increasing Carer’s Allowance and expanding eligibility for it, as set out in chapter 10.
Introducing a statutory guarantee of regular respite breaks for unpaid carers.
Introducing paid carer’s leave, building on the entitlement to unpaid leave secured by the Liberal Democrats.
Making caring a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 and requiring employers to make reasonable adjustments to enable employees with caring responsibilities to provide that care.
Introducing a Young Carers Pupil Premium as part of an ‘Education Guarantee’ for young carers.
Make careers in social care more attractive and value experienced staff to improve retention by:
Creating a new Carer’s Minimum Wage, boosting the minimum wage for care workers by £2 an hour, as a starting point for improved pay across the sector.
Creating clear career pathways, linked to recommended pay scales, which put an end to the undervaluing of skills in the sector.
Creating a career ladder to allow flexibility to work across the NHS and social care, allowing staff to gain experience in both.
Creating a Royal College of Care Workers to represent this skilled workforce.
Expanding the NHS Digital Staff Passport to include the care sector.
Recruit more staff to the sector with a social care workforce plan, akin to the NHS England workforce plan, that includes ethical international recruitment.
Support people to age well by:
Establishing a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing.
Rolling out active ageing programmes and trips and falls assessments for everyone over the age of 75 to prevent falls, avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and promote healthy ageing.
Opening fracture liaison services so that osteoporosis patients can get the treatment they need and prevent long-term issues and costs.
Support children in kinship care and their family carers by:
Introducing a statutory definition of kinship care.
Building on the existing pilot to develop a weekly allowance for all kinship carers.
Make care experience a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 to strengthen the rights of people who are in or have been in care.
Refresh the national strategy for loneliness collaboratively with service providers and people who have lived experience of loneliness, to be overseen by a dedicated Minister for Tackling Loneliness.