General Election Analysis: Labour Party Manifesto

BASW UK's Public & Political Affairs Lead, Kerri Prince summarises the Labour Party's pitch to voters at this election.

Labour Manifesto

Perhaps one of the most anticipated manifestos in a generation – journalists, pundits, and voters have been eager to see what is being offered by the Labour Party that is currently leading in the opinion polls and widely predicted to be the next party of government in Westminster on 5th July. But has the Labour Party been radical and offered significant change, or are they hedging their bets and playing it safe so as not to disturb the voters? Let’s look into it!

Where’s the money coming from?

Labour have said that they plan to grow the economy whilst keeping taxes, inflation, and mortgages as low as possible. They’ve announced specific taxes, such as a windfall tax on oil companies.

Labour have pledged to crack down on tax avoidance schemes and non-dom loopholes, and use the money raised from that to fund a series of pledges. Critics would argue that if you crack down on tax avoidance measures, the wealthiest will leave the country and there will be no wealth to tax – but whether this actually happens…only time will tell.

Another tax change that has dominated a lot of the media discussion is removing the VAT exemption on private school fees. Labour says they’ll use this money to fund state schools.

Welfare reform?

Labour has said that they’re committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it “makes work pay and tackles poverty”. A commitment to tackling poverty is welcome, but there has been widespread concern that Labour will not commit to scrapping the two child cap on benefits which keeps families in poverty.

They’ve pledged to introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school, protect renters from arbitrary eviction, slash fuel poverty, ban exploitative zero hour contracts, and improve support to help people get into good work. These are all good, noble goals – but the route to achieving these goals is important.

Adult social work, specifically?

There is no mention of the words ‘social work’ in the Labour manifesto, but ‘social care’ is mentioned only 9 times. Despite this, there are policies that will impact adult social work practice and social care.

Create a ‘National Care Service’
Establish a fair pay agreement in adult social care
Guarantee the rights of those in residential care to be able to see their families
Recruit 8500 additional mental health staff
Reform the Mental Health Act

We know that there is a crisis in social care and the size of the problem requires an equally sized solution, and this hasn’t been made clear in Labour’s manifesto. Solving social care will not happen overnight, and will require the political will to do so – as well as the funds needed to ensure that reform works.

“Labour will undertake a programme of reform to create a National Care Service, underpinned by national standards, delivering consistency of care across the country. Services will be locally delivered, with a principle of ‘home first’ that supports people to live independently for as long as possible. Our new standards will ensure high-quality care and ongoing sustainability, and ensure providers behave responsibly. Labour will develop local partnership working between the NHS and social care on hospital discharge.”

Labour acknowledges that the treatment of people with autism and learning disabilities is a disgrace but stops short of supporting BASW’s ‘Homes not Hospitals’ campaign.

What about children?

Considering the pressures on children’s social care, there isn’t much mention of it in Labour’s manifesto. Labour will work with local government to support children in care, including through kinship, foster care, and adoption, as well as strengthening regulation of the children’s social care sector. It may be that Labour will wait until they get into government to announce some concrete plans, and perhaps it should be welcomed that Labour recognises there is an issue – but it doesn’t give much reassurance that children’s social care will get the attention it needs.

Anything else worth noting?

If Labour win, they are not bound by the manifesto that they put out – nor is any party. A manifesto cannot realistically include a position on every feasible issue, but manifestos do give us an idea of what is important to the parties. If Labour win the General Election, they can introduce policies that are not in the manifesto, and BASW will keep pressure on whoever forms the next Government to implement policies that support social work.