Responding to a report by Age UK on how long-term care funding in
England compares to systems in Italy, Spain, France, Germany and
Japan, Cllr James Jamieson, Vice Chairman of the Local Government
Association, said:
“This report helps to stimulate the public debate we are leading
on how to provide a long-term solution to funding adult social
care to rescue a system in crisis.
“Adult social care is at breaking point due to years of
underfunding, rising demand and costs for care and support.
“Council taxpayers cannot bear the costs of solving this crisis
on their own. There is a pressing need to bridge a £3.5
billion funding gap facing adult social care by 2025 just to
maintain existing standards of care.
“Action is needed, which is why, following the Government’s
postponement of its long-awaited green paper on adult social
care, the LGA has published its own green paper to drive forward
the public debate on what sort of care and support we need to
improve people’s wellbeing and independence and, crucially, how
we fund these vital services.”
NOTES TO EDITOR
- The LGA’s green paper consultation, which runs until 26
September, is available here.
- The LGA will respond to the findings in a further publication
in the autumn, which will be used to influence the Government’s
own expected green paper, forthcoming Autumn Budget for 2019/20
and Spending Review.
- Recent surveys by the
LGA show that 96 per cent of councils and lead members believe
there is a major funding problem with adult social care; 89 per
cent said taxation must be part of the long-term solution to
funding it, and that 87 per cent of the public support more
funding to plug the significant funding gap in the sector.
