Government care pledge facing £15m shortfall in North East

THE Government’s flagship proposal to offer free personal care to those most in need was last night said to face a £15m shortfall in the region.

Labour is making free care a big part of its general election campaign, despite councils across the North East writing to the Government to warn of a huge surge in social services bills with little spare money available to cover them.

Ministers have been accused of giving false hope to people hoping that loved ones with conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease will be able to stay at home rather than be moved into residential care.

However, ministers have insisted council bosses can find the extra cash needed by saving money elsewhere.

But with budget cuts as high as 15% a year expected to be imposed on local authorities, councillors have warned that the cupboard is bare. North Tyneside mayor Linda Arkley is among the first to hit out at the Government’s failure to offer adults “real care help”.

The Conservative mayor said thousands of families across the region have been given false hope by the government which, she says, appears unwilling or unable to tackle the funding gap.

After an emergency council cabinet debate, Ms Arkley has ordered her officers to write to the Government setting out the problems with “misleading” care announcements.

She said that, according to her council’s calculations, North Tyneside will have to find at least £1m a year after taking account of the Government grant.

“And this is likely to be a massive under-estimate,” Ms Arkley said.

“They are not been honest about the extra burden it will force onto councils because they know there is unlikely to be extra money for it.

“We want to help. We can see the need for these services and we know from our front line staff how pressing the need is.

“What we are going to have now is a large period of uncertainty and confusion as the Government tells the elderly one thing and we sit here waiting for them to give us the money to do this.”

The mayor argued that North Tyneside wanted to support the vulnerable people in their own homes.

“But we want also to remove that anxiety and have a clear idea of where the money so coming from,” she said.

Across the region, the 12 local authorities will together face bills of at least £15m, it has been estimated.

In Newcastle Liz Langfield, the Liberal Democrat responsible for adult care, said the city faced the same funding problems. She added: “We welcome the announcement, we know there is a need to address the issue but, put simply, we can’t afford it either.

“Nick Clegg has already said we will have to drop free elderly care from our party’s manifesto because there is no money for it.

“We, as a council, can see our problems will be even bigger than those in North Tyneside and yet we have Labour ministers going around saying how they are going to help. Naturally we would want to provide that care, but it is something that as it stands we cannot afford.”

In Northumberland Simon Reed, executive member for adult care, said: “At a time of severe pressure on public finances, we would be forced to make additional savings to cover the costs which would inevitably impact on other services. It is both unrealistic and unfair for the Government to make hasty and unfunded proposals that leave local authorities to pick up the bill.”

The Department of Health denies that a funding gap exists, with a spokeswoman insisting that “£670m has been identified to fund free personal care and intensive support at home for the 400,000 people that will benefit from this policy”.

She went on: “It is for councils to decide how best to use the money in a way which not only delivers efficiencies, but fundamentally reduces people’s dependency on services.

“The proposals are based on sound evidence. Full evidence, data and costs of proposals have been published in the Impact Assessment alongside the Personal Care At Home Bill.”