Disability charities say the increase in adult social care funding announced in today’s provisional local government settlement does not come close to stabilising the sector.
The Government announced £69 billion of funding for council budgets across England, with a consultation running until early next year on final decisions. This is an increase of £2 billion in additional funding. Of this, £3.7 billion of funding will go to support adult and children’s services.
However, the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) said that although the provisional local government settlement offers a slight increase in funding for adult social care than was expected, it still falls far short of what’s needed to cover the impact of the budget, let alone future-proofing services after decades of under-investment.
Chief Executive Dr Rhidian Hughes added: “Despite the catastrophic impact of increases in national insurance contributions and wages on disability services, there was very little assurance that the essential support millions of people rely on, delivered by the third sector on behalf of councils will be supported in the way it so desperately needs. Disability charities have been very clear – if the full costs of the budget are not met, they will be forced to cut services. The Minister has said it is down to councils to decide how best to spend the money given to them, but they face significant challenges of their own.
‘If councils do not adequately pass the funding on via sufficient uplifts, the services they commission will, at best, need to drastically cut support and, at worse, cease to exist. They are in no position to take these services on themselves, and disabled people, families and carers will not have the care and support they need. This is simply shunting costs to the health service and crisis provision, undermining the government’s priorities for the NHS and national care service.’
Mencap also said the settlement could have been an opportunity to support social care – both for people who rely on it, and those who work so hard to support them. However with the increase in National Insurance contributions announced at the budget looming, this settlement does not help stabilise the sector.
Jon Sparkes, OBE, Chief Executive said: “It is a deeply worrying situation. However, the disappointing amount of only £200m of additional funding for social care does not come close to what we needed to see, and puts a struggling sector, already scrambling to stay afloat, in an increasingly vulnerable position.
“Now, more than ever, we need to see urgent progress towards a plan for the National Care Service and make headway with the Fair Pay Agreement, to help recruit and retain our dedicated and skilled workforce with the stability and pay that they deserve.”
