Government’s extra £150m for social care is ‘sticking plaster over gaping wound’

The Government has announced an extra £150m for social care which ‘will be allocated according to relative needs’.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid

However social care chiefs have said it “is not going to make a great deal of difference” and have criticised the extra injection of cash as a “sticking plaster over a gaping wound”.

Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, has made the extra money available following publication of the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2018 to 2019.

In a statement to Parliament, he said: “I recognise the need to prioritise spending on social care services that councils provide to our elderly and vulnerable citizens. This is why we announced an additional £2 billion at Spring Budget 2017 for adult social care over the three years from 2017-18. This year we have seen how this money has enabled councils to increase provider fees, provide for more care packages and reduce delayed transfer of care.

“And, having listening to representations since the provisional settlement, I am today announcing a further £150 million in 2018-19 for an Adult Social Care Support Grant. This will be taken from anticipated underspend in existing departmental budgets, and will not affect existing revenue commitments made to local government. This will be allocated according to relative needs and we will expect to see councils use it to build on their progress so far in supporting sustainable local care markets.”

Margaret Willcox, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), called all money “welcome” and said: “We will make the most of what we get, but considering councils need more than £2bn just to stand still in 2018-19, this is not going to make a great deal of difference.

To see the full story visit Homecare.co.uk