LGA responds to Government announcement on funding for social care

“The LGA has been at the forefront of efforts to highlight the significant pressures facing adult social care and secure funding for the system. We are pleased that the Government has acted by providing an injection of desperately-needed funding to help tackle winter pressures."

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Responding to the Government announcement of additional funding for social care to tackle winter pressures, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:

“The LGA has been at the forefront of efforts to highlight the significant pressures facing adult social care and secure funding for the system. We are pleased that the Government has acted by providing an injection of desperately-needed funding to help tackle winter pressures.

“Councils successfully used extra social care funding from the Government last year to reduce delayed transfer of care days attributable to social care by 37 per cent since July and alleviate some of the pressure on the NHS. This has proved that there cannot be a sustainable NHS without a sustainable social care system.

“However, short-term bailouts are not the answer. Councils and providers cannot simply turn services on and off as funding ebbs and flows. Putting in place the right services and workforce requires forward planning and longer term contracts. Adult social care services still face a £3.5 billion funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards of care.

“We must find a long-term funding solution for adult social care and support, and that is why the LGA recently launched its own social care green paper to drive forward the public debate on what sort of care and support we need to improve people’s wellbeing and independence, the need to focus on prevention work, and, crucially, how we fund these vital services.”

“The Government must use its own upcoming adult social care green paper to address the fundamental problems facing adult social care and ensure full and sustainable funding so that people will always have access to quality and reliable care and support that helps them live independent, dignified lives.”