A report by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has called for more long-term government funding to help local authorities manage unprecedented social care costs.
The ADASS Spring Budget which reports the results of a survey sent to all directors of adult social services in England, was published on 19 July and found that due to spiralling inflation, the impact of Covid-19 and workforce pressures “health and social care services are in jeopardy”.
The survey said that the next 12 months will be “challenging” for local authorities as unprecedented external cost pressures and rising inflation will create an even bigger hole in their finances.
Sarah McClinton, ADASS president, said: “Adult social care has long been in a fragile state, but growing economic turbulence is rapidly deepening our problems and concerns.
“Measures so far to ‘fix’ social care simply do not address the scale of current funding and workforce challenges and are crying out for a long-term, properly funded plan.”
The report found that 37.2% of overall council budgets was spent on adult social care in 2021/22.
It also reported that of the 142 councils that reported an outturn position for 2021/22 in response to the survey, 54% indicated that they overspent on their social care budget.
The survey recommended that the government provides an immediate grant for social care in 2022/23 to fund the fallout from Covid-19 and ease inflationary pressures, a two-year local government finance settlement and winter funding in September 2022.
Cathie Williams, chief executive at ADASS, said: “Our health and social care services are in jeopardy.
“Without immediate and substantial help from the government, we face the most difficult winter we have ever experienced during which more people will miss out on vital care, others will wait longer for support and choice and quality will decline still further.”
—————
FREE weekly newsletters
Subscribe to Room151 Newsletters
Room151 LinkedIn Community
Join here
Monthly Online Treasury Briefing
Sign up here with a .gov.uk email address
Room151 Webinars
Visit the Room151 channel
