The Department of Health and Social Care announced on 23 October 2020 that they are now providing CARE badges free of charge to staff employed across the adult social care sector
The Department of Health and Social Care had announced 15 April 2020 that it was taking over the CARE badge and the brand as part of the ‘COVID 19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care’ (Para 2.39).
A Lost CARE badge?
Richard Banks, Residential Forum member writes:
Today (Wednesday 6 May 2020) it is three weeks since Matt Hancock the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the department was taking over the CARE badge.
This badge will be a badge of honour in a very real sense, allowing social care staff proudly and publicly to identify themselves, just like NHS staff do with that famous blue and white logo.[1]
The announcement was part of the ‘COVID 19: Our Action Plan for Adult Social Care’ (Para 2.39). So far, the effect of the take over by the Department of Health and Social Care is that the CARE badge is not available. This seems odd since the CARE badge was, up until then, quite successful and the takeover had no start up or production issues to be dealt with. It has been available since July 2019 with more than 100,000 already distributed via social care employers.
The CARE badge is welcome – as a step towards recognition of the importance of social care staff. It was positive that the Department of Health and Social Care wanted to own the badge, as a going concern, and give it greater importance and visibility. A larger number of social care staff would be able to get one and would now be recognised alongside NHS staff.
Or so we were told by the Secretary of State – but this social care asset has, so far, been lost to the workforce The original organisation distributing the badge have stopped doing so – by agreement with the government – and there is nowhere to get the badges now.
Enquiries to the Department of Health and Social Care about how to get the badges are unanswered.
‘A sodding badge’
At the time of the announcement by Matt Hancock there were this and other negative comments. To many these comments seemed unnecessarily sour. The CARE badge is useful to staff working in social care now and should be the part of the much-heralded recognition breakthrough for social care after the virus crisis.
The sour responses are more about what social care has been missing for several months – PPE, testing and proper access to heath services for all using and working in residential care and home care services. This poor support to social care follows on from staff having been under recognised and underpaid for decades. So people should be forgiven for thinking that the CARE badge might feel like an empty gesture.
As said the CARE badge is not new it was developed by everLIFE technologies (who operate the ‘Pass’ planning and monitoring systems) and Care England (who represent larger residential care organisations). The National Care Forum (who represent not for profit care organisations) joined in and a Community Interest Company was formed. [2] The ‘CARE’ badge was launched in June 2019 it was reported in February 2020 that 100,000 badges had been distributed.
Thank you for your correspondence about the CARE badge.
Over 1.5 million
frontline care workers will now be able to unite under one banner to
help create an NHS-style single identity to better celebrate and
recognise the care sector. This is about
having a brand in place that symbolises the compassion and dedication
of our care workers, in the same way as the NHS logo.
The Department of Health and Social Care will outline shortly how the
social care sector will be able to use this brand as a form of
recognition and pride.
I hope this reply is helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Ministerial Correspondence and Public Enquiries
Department of Health and Social Care
Making Home Home 