Welcome to July’s edition of the CordisPulse – a monthly digest of key research and policy developments across the sectors in which Cordis Bright provides research and consultancy services, i.e. adult social care and health, children and young people's services, and criminal justice.

The Labour Party’s landslide general election victory has ushered in a period of transformation for the sectors that we work in and cover within this Pulse.

In this month’s Cordis Briefing, a quarterly event for independent sector providers of adult social care and supported housing, we discussed what the election result might mean for social care. Labour's manifesto emphasised the need for "deep reform" in social care, addressing issues such as inconsistent care standards, chronic staff shortages, and the integration of social care with the NHS.

Central to the new Government’s plan is the establishment of a National Care Service. However, the lack of detailed funding allocations and a clear timeline raises questions about the shape, feasibility and scope of this vision.

A significant focus of the new Government will be on improving pay and conditions for social care workers. The Government plans to introduce a collective bargaining agreement to set fair pay and enforce training standards. We have worked extensively on the impact of past wage increases for providers and would be happy to discuss this further.

The Government’s planned approach to social care also involves closer collaboration with the NHS, aiming to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and promote community-based care. Their vision includes developing local partnerships between hospitals and care homes and trialling neighbourhood health centres to provide integrated services.

To be effective, this must learn from attempts already made to improve integration in health and social care in recent years. This includes the work spearheaded in Greater Manchester, where we evaluated the ‘local care approach’. To read more about the findings of this evaluation and our other work on integrated health and social care, please visit our website: here.

We will be following and supporting the evolution of this landscape closely in the coming months and years and will support our clients to do the same. Our Cordis Briefings will continue to provide insight and analysis on policy developments and their impact for providers.