“The commitment to an increase in health funding is a sign of the high regard in which NHS and social care are held in this country, and we need to make sure we demonstrate every penny of value we deliver.

"But we know that the financial pressures on the health service are increasing as costs of care and demands on our services grow, and we strive to find the £20billion in savings needed to cover this.

"While we are pleased the Government remains committed to reforming social care funding, we desperately need to see more detail about how we will progress this and in what timeframe.

"Both the NHS and local government are under immense financial pressures. Any further procrastination on social care funding will be further exacerbated by the short term reductions in local council funding from next year.

“The NHS and social care are two sides of the same coin, and older people and their carers do not stop needing support just because the money isn’t there. We know there is a real danger that when social care support decreases it has a knock on impact on the NHS.

"We need to address this issue now or risk paying the price further down the line. Without urgent reform, we will see a decline in services and greater pressure building on the NHS."