Funding from central government has been severely reduced by 60 per cent since 2011 and council tax now funds over 60 per cent of West Berkshire Council’s budget. This is an untenable shift in financial responsibility.
Council notes that:
- 1) More and more councils are struggling to balance their budgets due to the soaring costs of social care.
- 2) Funding from central government has been severely reduced by 60 per cent since 2011 and council tax now funds over 60 per cent of West Berkshire Council’s budget. This is an untenable shift in financial responsibility.
- 3) Despite a 27 per cent real-terms reduction in core spending power for councils since 2010/11, children’s social care budgets increased by £1.5 billion in the last year alone as councils fight to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing.
- 4) In his first speech as Prime Minister in 2019, Boris Johnson stated that the Government would “fix the crisis in social care once and for all” but that promise has been broken. Since the General Election in 2019 there have been five Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care, none of whom have kept that promise.
- 5) This council is forecast to spend almost £92M on Adult Social Care in 2023/24. This equates to £1.76M per week, with the highest adult care package currently costing £7,025 per week.
- 6) West Berkshire Children and Family Services is forecast to spend £3.7 million beyond its budget for Children’s and Family Services in 2023/24. The increase is partly due to increasing costs of care packages and placements and also to the increasing numbers of children needing help. Some individual children’s care are packages are costing as much as £9,000 per week.
- 7) The number of children requiring Education and Health and Care Plans to meet their needs is increasing on a monthly basis. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is forecasting a spend of £4.9M beyond its budget for 2024/25.
- 8) A recent Carers Trust survey noted that one-in-eight unpaid carers were caring for an extra 50 hours a week or more over the past year.
- 9) NHS organisations and charities have warned that the Government's newly announced ban on migrant care workers bringing dependents with them to the UK risks deepening the care sector's recruitment and retention crisis.
Council believes that:
- a) The proper provision of social care for children and adults is the hallmark of a civilised society and should be placed on an equal footing with NHS care and funded accordingly.
- b) The role of unpaid carers should be financially recognised and valued for the work that they do.
- c) A shift towards preventative social care is essential, ensuring individuals can remain in their homes longer and children and families receive early support tailored to their needs
Council therefore resolves to ask the CEO and the acting Leader of West Berkshire Council to write to the district’s MPs asking them to:
- Urge the Government to properly fund social care via national taxation rather than the regressive council tax which unfairly penalises people on lower incomes
- Ask the Government to provide additional funding for adult and children’s services, reducing demand, stabilising placements, and enhancing outcomes for children and families
- Call on the Government to urgently reform carers allowance and to provide a package of support for unpaid carers
- Call on the Government to reject any proposals to change visa rules for health and care workers that would reduce the number of care worker visas issued.