THE care system in the UK is not working because “society has forgotten that living in community requires all to contribute and to receive,” the Archbishop of Canterbury has told the General Synod.

Introducing a motion, on Tuesday, to endorse the recommendations of the Archbishops’ Commission on Reimagining Care (News, 27 January 2023), Archbishop Mullally said: “The Church is called to say that that people are not economic units for productivity, but people worthy of access to care and support, which each one of us will require in our lives at some point. . . Our cure of souls involves care and support of people’s whole lives.”

The motion called for a clear Christian vision to mend the social care system — a plan of action that would give equal dignity to everyone (News, 30 January).

Archbishop Mullally expressed hope that the Independent Commission on Social Care, chaired by Baroness Casey, would “initiate a national conversation about care”.

Too many people struggled to gain access to care; too many councils struggled to provide it; and more of the burden was falling on unpaid carers, she said. Two million people over 65 and 1.5 million of working age were not getting the care that they needed; others “may not be getting the right care in the right place”.

She commended social prescribing as “a method of engaging with health and care services that enables people to access the wonderful activities already run by churches”, as well as the work of the Church Urban Fund in equipping and resourcing them.

Speakers in the debate often drew on personal experience.

The Commission’s “compelling” vision could not be realised unless the shortage of the workforce was addressed, Abigail Ogier (Manchester), who worked in adult social care, said. Staff during the pandemic had been held up as “heroes” — but that recognition had been “painfully short-lived”, she said. “Social care is once again being treated as an afterthought.”

Society had dismissive attitudes to disabled people, reported the Revd Alice Kemp (Bristol), whose son had complex needs. She described the “nightmare” that supported living had been, though, thankfully, she said, her son was now flourishing in residential care. “A creative care system predicates that all are made in the image of God and loved and valued,” she said.

Prebendary Rosie Austin (Exeter) spoke of a lack of access to care in rural areas: many people could not be discharged from hospital because of a shortage of carers — something highlighted in the diocese of Truro. “Rural residents face systematic exclusion without transport,” she said.

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, the lead bishop on housing, found a clear overlap between social care and housing. The lack of retirement homes, or the unsuitability of other housing, was forcing many elderly or disabled people to struggle on alone in large houses.

She applauded new inter-generational communities as a creative way of responding to that challenge, and urged parishes and dioceses to explore this possibility.

Jane Evans (Leeds) compared the £400,000 a week earned by a footballer with the £400 earned by a carer on the minimum wage. “What does that say about us as a society?” she asked. “Care is a calling. If we don’t value it properly, we are saying something deeply troubling about what matters to us as a society. If our treasure is entertainment and profit, then our hearts are not where Jesus needs them to be.”

Synod members spoke about church initiatives, including Anna Chaplaincies, dementia care, “Hymns We Love” singing sessions in community settings, and clubs for elderly and lonely people.

“We visit them, we see them, we’re happy to be with them: there’s a link between people being alone at home and how the mind deteriorates later on,” David Ashton (Leeds) said.

Peter Harris (Southwell & Nottingham), who works in the NHS, applauded the Commission’s vision as “the current way forward”. Social care needs had to be tackled “collectively between the Church and the Government, not independently”.

The motion was carried by 245 nem. con., with one recorded abstention. It calls on the Government to draw on the Commission’s report and its focus on the notion of covenant in delivering the manifesto commitment to creating a National Care Service.