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Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to a new report from the Health Foundation and the King’s Fund which says social care reform is at a “fork in the road”

“This report shows that we need big, brave and bold decision-making if we are to tackle the crisis in adult social care, which needs cross-party consensus if we are to succeed.

“The case has been well and truly made that the system is in desperate need of both an immediate injection of money and long-term sustainable funding that secures care and support for older and disabled people now and in future generations.

“The funding gap facing adult social care is set to exceed £2 billion by 2020 and this simply addresses the impact of inflation, the National Living Wage and demographic change; it does not address other key pressures such as unmet need, improved training, and pay and conditions for the social care workforce, including sleep-in costs. The majority of this pressure is now with an estimated £1.3 billion of that shortfall needed to stabilise the care market. 

“The Government must seize the chance to address these challenges in its Green Paper and deliver reforms to future-proof adult social care.”

Read more: Towards a sustainable adult social care and support system – an LGA think piece series