Councils in England could have to pay £10bn more than the government predicted to implement social care reforms, according to a County Councils Network (CNN) report.
The report said the estimated minimum cost to execute the reforms would be £25.5bn over the next decade compared to the government’s prediction of £15.6bn.
The 10-year vision for adult social care reform will be implemented in October 2023 and include a cap on care costs of £86,000 and a more generous means-test funded by local authorities.
Cllr Martin Tett, adult social care spokesperson for CNN, said: “Today’s report shows there is a significant financial and operational cost to these reforms, which are likely to be significantly more than the government’s estimates.”
The report also stated that implementing the care reforms would disproportionally impact councils in county and rural areas, as they would account for £14.3bn (57%) of the total estimated cost. This is in contrast to the £4.9bn (11%) cost in urban metropolitan borough councils in the North and West Midlands.
CNN said the reforms will create an additional 200,000 care and financial assessments, which means 5,000 more staff will be required to conduct the work and “will be almost impossible to recruit”.
In light of the estimations, the report called for the government to fully fund the reforms and to re-examine its funding formula to take account of the particular impact on county councils.
Tett added: “Importantly, instead of a big bang introduction to the reforms, today’s report calls for them to be phased to give local authorities enough time to mitigate the challenges and give them enough time to transform and prepare for such a momentous change.”
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