'Social care must be properly recognised as an essential public service'

I have run 1st Grade Care, a south Wales-based domiciliary care business, for 11 years. I am also chairman of the Cardiff Domiciliary Care Association, which represents around 95 per cent of the domiciliary care providers commissioned by Cardiff Council, with many members also providing services in Gwent and the Vale of Glamorgan. Too often, funding announced for social care does not fully reach frontline care providers. A greater proportion of social care funding should be ring-fenced to ensure it reaches frontline services. Social care is an essential public service.