Briefings and responses

The underfunding of adult social care and support sector is impacting on the quality of life of people who have care and support needs. It is also creating a fragile provider market, putting workforce and unpaid family carers under further strain, creating unmet and under-met need and impacting on social care’s ability to help mitigate demand pressures on the NHS.

In recent years, adult social care has been propped up by one-off, piecemeal injections of funding. This hampers councils’ ability to plan for anything beyond a short-term horizon. Social care and public health funding should therefore be given the same long-term certainty as NHS funding.

We have some concerns about the implementation of certain provisions within the Bill, and the new burdens that will be imposed on councils as a result. A key example is the expected increased burden on planning departments. Local government will need to acquire new skills and be given the appropriate resources, to deliver on the ambitious plans in the Bill. 

The LGA’s apprenticeships support programme provides a range of practical support and advice for local authorities and their maintained schools on developing and enhancing their apprenticeship programme.

The Local Government Finance Settlement is the annual determination of funding to local government from central government. The provisional Settlement for 2020/21 was published on 20 December 2019.

Since the referendum, the LGA has taken a neutral position on the UK’s membership of the EU.

Good mental health is essential for a healthy and prosperous society. Unfortunately, it is easier to focus on what happens when a person becomes mentally ill, and how the health service intervenes, rather than how to keep our communities mentally well in the first place. Improving and maintaining good mental health for communities is a key priority for councils.

Technological and lifestyle efforts have an important role to play in addressing climate change and meeting the net zero target, but responsibility cannot rest with individuals alone. Compelling, appropriate and affordable sustainable alternatives must be available to the general public to enable them to make sustainable choices.

We are pleased that in the recent Spending Round, the Government has responded to our calls and provided desperately needed new money, including £1 billion for social care (children’s and adults), as well as confirming the continuation of existing grants. However, these one-off, piecemeal injections of funding hamper councils’ ability to plan for anything beyond a short-term horizon. Social care needs to be given long term funding certainty in the same way as the NHS, and we look forward to seeing the Government’s plans for long-term adult social care reform.

The LGA supports local authorities in their ambition to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions across housing and all their business in the shift towards achieving net zero carbon.