Social care funding settlement ‘hugely disappointing’ with more cuts on way, LGA
Social care services will continue to be cut despite extra funding, council chiefs warned after the Government confirmed its local government funding package for next year.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured) confirmed proposals in the local government finance settlement for 2017/18 to provide £900 million for social care in England.
First announced in draft before Christmas, the measures allow local authorities to hike council tax by 6% over the next two years, raising £652 million to head off a funding shortfall predicted to hit £2.6 billion by 2020.
A further £240 million for social care will come from a new Government support grant, funded with money taken from the new homes bonus scheme.
But the Local Government Association (LGA) said the extra council tax income “will not bring in anywhere near enough money to prevent the need for continued cutbacks to local services, including social care”.
LGA chairman Lord Porter said the final settlement was “hugely disappointing” and that cuts to the new homes bonus will leave two thirds of councils having to find millions more in savings than expected to plug funding gaps.
He said: “Increasing council tax raises different amounts of money for social care in different parts of the country and the extra income raised will be swallowed up by the cost to councils of paying for the Government’s National Living Wage.
“Social care faces a funding gap of at least £2.6 billion by 2020. It cannot be left to council taxpayers alone to try and fix this.
“Councils, the NHS, charities and care providers remain united around the desperate need for new government funding for social care. By continuing to ignore these warnings, social care remains in crisis and councils and the NHS continue to be pushed to the financial brink.”
Lord Porter said “genuinely new” money is needed for social care as “our most vulnerable people” face an “uncertain future where they might no longer receive the dignified care and support they deserve”.
The overall local authority funding gap of £5.8 billion by 2020 will push councils “close to the financial edge” and force all of them to cut services such as filling potholes, collecting waste, children’s centres and libraries, the LGA said.
Lord Porter called on the Government to use next month’s Budget to take “urgent steps to improve the immediate funding outlook for local government and secure its financial sustainability in the long-term”.
Announcing the local government finance settlement, Mr Javid said in a written ministerial statement: “We listened to the unanimous view that we must prioritise spending on adult social care services that councils provide to our elderly and vulnerable citizens.
“The Spending Review put in place up to £3.5 billion of additional funding for adult social care by 2019-20.
“Recognising the immediate challenges in the care market facing many councils next year, this settlement re-purposes £240 million of money which was previously directed to local authorities via the new homes bonus to create a new adult social care support grant next year.
“It also grants councils extra flexibility to raise the adult social care precept by up to 3% next year and the year after.
“These measures make available almost £900 million of additional funding for adult social care over the next two years, bringing the total dedicated funding available for adult social care to £7.6 billion over the four-year settlement period.”
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