Overstretched local social care services in England are facing a
£1.7 billion Covid black hole, new analysis by the Liberal
Democrats has revealed.
The party is warning the government has failed to provide enough
additional support for social care during the pandemic, leaving
elderly people without the care they deserve.
Local councils had to spend an additional £3.2 billion on adult
social care services due to Covid in the first year of the
pandemic, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the
Liberal Democrats shows. This compares to just £1.49 billion of
extra Covid-19 funding for social care provided to local
authorities by the government, leaving a £1.692 billion gap.
Councils spent an extra £1.2 billion on additional demand for
adult social care due to the pandemic, £1.24bn on measures to
support the market such as additional payments and fee uplifts
for care homes, £215m on workforce pressures and £197m on
personal protective equipment (PPE). The lack of additional
funding provided by the government meant councils were left with
a shortfall of £722m for additional demand, £641m for supporting
the market, £42m for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and £77m
for workforce pressures.
Liberal Democrat Health, Wellbeing and Social Care Spokesperson
said:
“The Conservatives have shamefully failed to provide councils
with enough cash to cover the additional costs of the pandemic,
from PPE to workforce pressures.
“This black hole in local councils' finances has left local
social care services even more overstretched than before. More
than 1.5 million people are now missing out on the care they need
and many are stranded in hospital, unable to leave because the
follow-up care just isn’t there. This puts extra strain on unpaid
carers and the NHS, which is already struggling for cash.
“Even worse, most of the money raised through Boris Johnson’s
unfair tax rise won’t even be spent on social care for many years
to come, if ever.
“Hard-pressed families deserve better than this. The Liberal
Democrats want to see cross-party talks on how to fund social
care in a fair and sustainable way, alongside urgent funding for
cash-strapped councils to ensure high quality for all those who
need it.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
This story was first reported by The Observer here.
Please see full research from the Commons Library
below.
You asked for details of the additional COVID-19 related
funding provided to local authorities and the additional costs
incurred for social care during the pandemic.
The table below shows figures for 2020/21, giving details
of the outturn social care expenditure set against the additional
funding. A balance figure is provided highlighting local
authority expenditure exceeded additional funding by around £1.7
billion.
Source: Local authority
financial impact monitoring data
Outturn expenditure for 2021/22 is only available for April
2021. The table below shows that around 35% of the additional
COVID-19 2021/22 funding was spent in April 2021.
Source: Local authority
financial impact monitoring data
