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Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to a report by think tank IPPR calling for the government to raise National Insurance contributions by 1p in the pound to secure the NHS and social care 

“This report raises further and much-needed awareness of the critical need to resolve the long-term financial sustainability of the NHS and adult social care.

“Adult social care is a vital service is in its own right, providing care and support to millions of people, but funding for it has been reduced by an estimated £6 billion since 2010.

“The fact that the funding gap facing adult social care is expected to exceed £2 billion by 2020 reflects a situation so grave that all funding options should be up for discussion - but local council tax payers should not be expected to pay to fix a national funding problem.

“The forthcoming care and support green paper and expected announcements to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the NHS is a once in a generation opportunity to secure a sustainable funding for adult social care, which needs to be given parity with the health service.

“Any funding for social care should go direct to councils to invest in prevention and early intervention measures to reduce NHS pressures and costs, and not diverted to urgent and short-term needs of the acute care sector.”

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