Elderly care cut as councils divert £2bn cash to plug gaps

Elderly people are suffering because councils are cutting hundreds of millions of pounds from their nursing and care home budgets, the Coalition admits today.

Paul Burstow, the care services minister and a Liberal Democrat MP, is demanding to know why councils are failing to pass on £2 billion of extra money that the Government allocated to support for frail and disabled adults.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he accused dozens of authorities of “clearly” failing to act “in the best interests” of their residents.

A number of councils are expected to be targeted with interventions to ensure that they “improve productivity” without sacrificing key services, he said.

The minister is the first government spokesman to acknowledge the scale of the funding crisis and accept that the money promised by the Chancellor last year has not reached the front line.

The extra £2 billion, announced in the spending review, was not “ring fenced”, and charities say that it is being diverted to plug the gaps after other council cuts.

Ministers have previously said councillors have “no excuse” for cutting budgets for services such as care homes and helpers who assist with daily tasks including washing and cooking.

However, Mr Burstow said government figures showed councils in England had cut £200 million from their spending on social care in cash terms since last year.

Once inflation is taken into account, the real impact will be far greater. “Local authorities are looking to make savings in their systems, so they are taking resources out,” he said. “The good local authorities are doing that in ways that involve actually changing the way in which they deliver services.

“But that still does leave a number of local authorities that are clearly making decisions that are not in the best interest of their local communities. They need to be challenged: why are you not spending this money on social care? Why are you making these cuts?”

Groups including Age UK have warned that frail elderly people will be left without vital support with everyday tasks.

Earlier this month, two councils – Sefton in Merseyside and the Isle of Wight – lost High Court cases over their decisions to cut back on care for elderly and disabled adults.

Mr Burstow said councils that cut services unnecessarily must be held to account.

“The minority of local authorities that are taking those sorts of approaches, they need to be really challenged,” he said.

The Coalition is considering radical reforms to the elderly care system, and has promised a White Paper setting out firm plans next spring.

Andrew Dilnot, the economist, has recommended a scheme to make sure individuals are no longer forced to sell their homes to cover the cost of their care in old age. A cap on care costs of up £35,000 would be introduced, with any fees above this level met by the state, under his plan. However, there are concerns that the Treasury is unwilling to meet the costs of the plan, which have been estimated at an extra £1.7 billion a year.

Cross-party talks have been promised in an attempt to reach a consensus on the future of funding for elderly care.

Before the last election, talks broke down acrimoniously as the Conservatives accused Labour of drawing up plans for a “death tax”.