Five weeks into the country’s first Plaid Cymru government, ADSS Cymru's Research and Policy Lead, Paul Pavia, reflects on what the new administration has said about social care, where the synergies lie across government and the engagement work we have been doing to build relationships in the new term.
The Seventh Senedd convened in May under Wales’ first Plaid Cymru government, a minority administration led by First Minister, Rhun ap Iorwerth. In the space of barely a month, through key speeches, a sequence of Cabinet priority statements and the first question sessions, the new government has set out a direction of travel that will shape its forthcoming Programme for Government. Whilst health remains the dominate policy priority, social care does feature but more clarity is required. For ADSS Cymru and our members, that presents both opportunity and responsibility. We have used these opening weeks to begin building the relationships that will help translate ministerial ambition into clear and deliverable change on the ground.
A new government, six familiar missions
The First Minister used his early speeches — on the steps of the Senedd, at his appointment and in his formal priorities statement — to move from victory, to purpose, to programme. What stood out was consistency: the same six missions carried unchanged from the election campaign into government, with “an NHS and care service fit for the future” named as its core mission. Notably, that mission was framed not simply around reducing waiting lists but around sustainability, prevention and a shift of care “closer to home” — with social care integration explicitly part of the answer.
What the government has said about social care
The Health and Care Minister set out a deliberately stark diagnosis of a system “beset by crises” and committed to long-term renewal rather than short-term fixes. For social care, the substance lies less in fresh money than in confirmed direction. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to a fully integrated national care service, progressing toward care that is “free at the point of need”, beginning with personal care; to expanded community care and stronger discharge planning; and to strengthened Regional Partnership Boards as the vehicle for increased joint working. The most concrete new step was a commitment to instruct Llais to appoint a ‘Social Care Champion’.
Workforce and pay are firmly back on the agenda. Pay parity between social care and NHS staff has been restated in principle, though without a date and Ministers pointed to the Real Living Wage, the voluntary Pay and Progression Framework and the development of a Social Care Negotiating Body for Wales as the building blocks.
The recurring pattern across the month was one of firm direction but deferred funding and dates. Delayed discharge featured heavily — with around 1,275 people cited in the chamber as medically fit but waiting for a package of care or an assessment — against a flagged social care funding gap of more than £200m this year. Almost every social care answer to Member’s questions ultimately routed back to local government capacity and the review of the local government funding formula, picked up by the WLGA finance group in early July, is the key structural lever to watch.
Synergies across government
One of the clearest features of the new government is that the issues that matter most to social care did not surface only in the Cabinet Minister’s statement on priorities for health and social care — they are threaded through the whole Cabinet. Siân Gwenllian framed housing as the foundation of health and wellbeing, with a Warm Homes review and action on fuel poverty that bear directly on the people we support. Sioned Williams, as Deputy First Minister, placed child poverty, the universal childcare offer and unpaid carers at the heart of her social justice portfolio. Anna Brychan’s education statement carried direct relevance through creating a more sustainable model for additional learning needs, while Heledd Fychan tied culture and sport explicitly to prevention and social prescribing. Even the economic mission led by Adam Price intersects with our world through the foundational economy, skills and the social care labour market. A greater focus on and shift to prevention and preventive models has certainly emerged as a shared language across government — an agenda on which our members have a great deal to contribute.
Our engagement: Y Farchnad and partnership working
Relationship-building has been our priority in these opening weeks, and Y Farchnad - or the Senedd Marketplace - has been central to that. Y Farchnad offers organisations a stand in the heart of the Senedd building to meet Members – old and new - and raise awareness of their work. We were pleased to take part on 10 June, sharing space with Foster Wales and meeting around fifteen Members from across the political spectrum on the day.
Throughout, we have sought to work alongside our partners - Social Care Wales, the WLGA and the Welsh NHS Confederation - to present a joined-up sector and a consistent national message. Our wider approach has been to connect new Members directly with directors and heads of service, so that relationships with the sector are built early and on a positive footing. We have also written to the Cabinet Minister and his deputies to welcome their priorities and to offer our support, where we can help shape, influence and implement shared policy priorities.
Looking ahead: the 9 July briefing
The next milestone is our breakfast briefing seminar on the morning of 9 July (08:00–09:15), to which we have invited Senedd Members and partner organisations, so that we can fully introduce Members to our work but provide them with a ‘State of the Nation’ assessment of where social care is and what the challenges and opportunities are for our sector now and in the future.
Alongside it, our Business Delivery Unit is finalising briefing packs for directors and heads of service, pairing a consistent national message with locally specific information across constituencies. Looking further ahead, we are looking at opportunities to collaborate with partners on a policy roundtable on prevention and early intervention in the autumn and that partnership thread will run through our national conference in October.
The mood in these first weeks has, on the whole, been positive and constructive. The harder conversations, particularly on funding, undoubtedly lie ahead. But the early signals are encouraging and ADSS Cymru intends to be a constructive, expert partner as this new government turns its ambitions for social care into reality.