Responding to the press release by the Association of Directors
of Adult Social Services on community care, Cllr Ian Hudspeth,
Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community
Wellbeing Board, said:
“With people living longer, increases in costs and decreases in
funding, adult social care is at breaking point.
“Since July 2017 councils have reduced the average number of
delayed transfers of care due to social care by 33 per
cent despite significant funding pressures. To help councils
build on this work and help reduce pressures on the NHS, adult
social care needs to be put on an equal footing with the health
service.
“Councils have proven that they are making a considerable
difference and it is important that the Government shifts its
focus from treating DTOCs as a symptom of system pressures and
towards tackling the root cause of those pressures. We need to
see much greater investment in social care, primary care and
other community services and, as a starting point, maximum
flexibility over the use of the recently announced £240 million
funding.
“Over recent years, councils have protected adult social care
relative to other services. But the scale of the overall funding
picture for local government as a whole means adult social care
services still face a £3.5 billion funding gap by 2025, just to
maintain existing standards of care. The likely consequences
of this are more and more people being unable to get quality and
reliable care and support, which enables them to live more
fulfilling lives.
“Action is needed, which is why, following government’s decision
to delay its green paper on adult social care, the LGA
published our own green paper consultation to drive forward
the public debate on what sort of care and support we need to
improve people’s wellbeing and independence, the need to focus on
prevention work, and, crucially, how we fund these vital
services.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Since July 2017, delays due to social care have fallen by 33
per cent, while delays due to the NHS have fallen by 12 per cent.
- The LGA’s green paper is available here. The
consultation closed on 26 September.
- 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 and Spending Review.
- The LGA’s response to additional funding for adult social
care winter pressures is here.
- 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.
