Councils fail to protect social care

Almost half of councils are not protecting adult social care from cuts, a survey conducted by the Local Government Association shows – a decision set to increase pressure on the National Health Service.

The LGA presented its survey of finance officers in 130 councils as demonstrating that local authorities are cutting the numbers and pay of senior and middle managers in an attempt to protect the front line. But the survey also showed that only 57 per cent have decided to provide relative protection to social care by cutting it by less than other departments, with 63 per cent providing some protection for children’s social care.

That leaves 43 per cent providing no extra protection for social care and 37 doing the same for children’s social care. Four councils said they plan to cut adult social care by more than their other services.

Services for young people and libraries are taking disproportionate damage as councils enter the first year of what will be a 27 per cent in central government support for what they do.

Unison, the health and local government union, said the survey reads “like a hit list of valued local services”. Two-thirds of councils plan to cut Sure Start Services, and eight out of 10 plan to make savings on library services.

Dave Prentis, the union’s general secretary, said “political decisions taken in Whitehall to make massive, front-loaded cuts [to local government] mean that even children’s social care and Sure Start centres are not safe. This is not only a tragedy, it could cause one”.

The cuts to social care comes despite the government arguing that it has put an extra £1bn in for social care funding – without ring fencing it – and as the NHS has been told to hand over an average of £1bn a year to social care to try to prevent blocked beds in the NHS.

The survey comes as a report from the Audit Commission points to big reductions in teaching assistants being likely as schools have to find savings.

Three-quarters of school costs are staff, and teacher numbers have risen by 8 per cent while pupil numbers have fallen by 2 per cent since 1997 over a period when school spending is up by 28 per cent.

The number of teaching assistants has risen by over 90 per cent since 2003, the commission said, and they now constitute a quarter of the workforce. “But it is very surprising that such growth has occurred when there is no consistent evidence of their impact on pupils’ attainment or teachers’ workload,” the commission said.

Schools now face questions about whether they can reshape their workforces without damaging attainment, the commission said.