LGA: Council tax will fail to protect adult social care services this year
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Council tax rises in 2019/20 will not bring in enough money to
prevent the need for further cutbacks to the care that millions of
older and disabled people rely on every day, the Local Government
Association reveals today. All councils are able to raise
council tax by up to 2.99 per cent in 2019/20 to fund local
services without the need for a referendum. Some social care
authorities remain able to levy an extra social care precept of up
to 2 per...Request free trial
Council tax rises in 2019/20 will not bring in enough money to prevent the need for further cutbacks to the care that millions of older and disabled people rely on every day, the Local Government Association reveals today.
All councils are able to raise council tax by up to 2.99 per cent in 2019/20 to fund local services without the need for a referendum.
Some social care authorities remain able to levy an extra social care precept of up to 2 per cent (up to 4.99 per cent in total with the general flexibility) this year. Income from this precept must be spent on adult social care services.
With town halls across the country setting their final budgets and council tax levels, extensive annual research by the LGA reveals:
The LGA has estimated that even if all councils used their council tax flexibilities to the maximum allowed, adult social care services still face a funding gap of at least £1 billion in 2019/20, just to maintain existing standards of care. This will rise to £3.6 billion by 2025.
The dignified care and support which older and disabled people deserve, such as help getting dressed, fed or getting out and about and generally being able to live the lives they want to lead, therefore remains at risk. Vital social care services will be unable to continue to help ease the pressure on the NHS while the threat of a care home crisis remains very real.
Councils will have to divert funding from other cherished local services - such as bus services, parks, filling potholes, libraries and leisure centres - this year to try and protect adult social care services.
The LGA is calling for the Government to use its Spending Review to tackle the immediate adult social care funding gap and publish a comprehensive Green Paper on social care to find a truly long-term, sustainable funding solution to this adult social care crisis.
Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Resources Board, said:
“Adult social care provides vital support to millions of people every day but is at breaking point.
“Extra council tax income for adult social care has been helpful in recent years. For many that option has run out this year and the extra money the rest will raise will do little to prevent those who rely on services seeing the quality and quantity reduce.
“Raising council tax has never been the answer to fixing our chronically underfunded social care system. It has raised different amounts of money in different parts of the country, unrelated to need, and risked adding an extra financial burden on households.
“Investing in social care is the best way to keep people out of hospital and living independent, dignified lives at home and in the community. This is not only good for our loved ones but is proven to alleviate pressure on the NHS.
“Plugging the immediate funding gap facing adult social care and finding a genuine long-term funding solution must therefore be an urgent priority for the Government.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Social care council tax precept increases have not been able to exceed 6 per cent over the 3 year period from 2017/18 to 2019/20. Councils were able to front-load increases of up to 3 per cent in both 2017/18 and 2018/19. That means that if a council has already used up the flexibility in 2017/18 and 2018/19 it cannot increase its social care precept further in 2019/20. Those who continue to have precept flexibility remaining can only raise a maximum of 2 per cent in this final year.
2. Councils have reduced the average number of delayed transfers of care days attributed to social care since July 2017 by 43 per cent, freeing up more hospital beds for those that need them.
3. Latest figures show that councils in England receive 1.8 million new requests for adult social care a year – the equivalent of nearly 5,000 a day. Spend on adult social care now accounts for nearly 40 per cent of total council budgets.
4. Councils will receive £240 million extra funding for adult social care and £410 million, for both adults and children’s social care, in 2019/20. While this funding is helpful, the LGA is clear that short-term measures and one-off funding do not address the full extent of all immediate pressures on the adult social care system.
5. Last July, the LGA launched its own adult social care green paper to kick-start a desperately-needed national debate on how to pay for adult social care and rescue the services caring for older and disabled people from collapse. The consultation received more than 500 responses. You can read the LGA’s response to the consultation here.
6. The LGA’s #CouncilsCan campaign aims to influence the forthcoming Spending Review and highlight the growing risk to vital local services if the Government does not take action to secure the financial sustainability of councils - https://www.local.gov.uk/councils-can |