WIREDGOV

Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to the launch of the Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into how much extra money is needed from the Government for social care over each of the next five years 

“People of all ages should be able to live the lives they want to lead and this inquiry is another important step in building towards a long-term, sustainable funding solution for adult social care.

“Our own analysis published ahead of this week’s Budget shows that adult social care services face a funding gap of almost £4 billion by 2025, just to cover basic inflationary and demographic pressures.

“This makes up almost two thirds of the overall funding gap which councils face by the middle of the decade to pay for local services, due to rising cost pressures and unprecedented demand.

“The Government has the opportunity to take forward the proposals in our new report on the future of care, as it begins talks to build a cross-party consensus on the future of this vital service.

“We at the LGA are happy to host these talks and play our part in finding a sustainable, long-term solution for adult social care.”

Notes

The LGA’s new report – The lives we want to lead; towards change, towards hope – sets out the main issues that need to be addressed to ensure that people can live the lives they want to lead, and the kind of action councils want to see from government. A copy is available here.

This includes making the case for the value of social care in its own right; funding to secure the short- to medium-term and pave the way for future reforms and more investment to support prevention and wellbeing. We also need changes from the NHS to further support a greater emphasis on prevention and wellbeing; and consideration of any long-term reform proposals against a set of key tests, such as their clarity, fairness and whether they pool the financial risk of care costs amongst the population at large.

Health and Social Care Committee launches inquiry to identify social care funding gap