Short-term bailouts are not the answer to fix social care funding, according to the Local Government Association, responding to the government’s announcement of an extra £240m for winter social care packages.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference this week, health and social care secretary Matt Hancock announced the cash to help free up NHS beds by supporting people in their own homes.
But the sector says that the announcement highlights the need for a long-term solution to properly funding social care services.
Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, welcomed the injection of funding to tackle winter pressures.
He said that councils successfully used extra social care funding from the government last year to reduce delayed transfer of care days attributable to social care by 37% since July.
“This has proved that there cannot be a sustainable NHS without a sustainable social care system,” he said.
“However, short-term bailouts are not the answer. Councils and providers cannot simply turn services on and off as funding ebbs and flows.
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“Putting in place the right services and workforce requires forward planning and longer-term contracts.”
Hudspeth said adult social care services still face a £3.5bn funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards of care.
The government’s forthcoming adult social care green paper must ensure sustainable funding for social care, he added.
David Williams, County Councils Network spokesman for health and social care, and leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said social care pressures had played a major role in counties having to cut £700m from other parts of their budgets this year.
He said: “This one-off, in-year funding cannot underpin ongoing resourcing and workforce strategies and perpetuates a trend of short-termism we have seen from successive governments when it comes to adult social care.
“With the 36 county authorities in the CCN membership facing a funding black hole of £1.4bn next year, further injection of funding for all services will be required for the next financial year in excess of what councils will receive from today’s announcement.”
Glen Garrod, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said the funding was only a “temporary and partial fix” and that the government needs to go much further and faster.
“We look forward to seeing more in the upcoming green paper about how a long-term funding settlement will do this,” he said.
In July, the LGA launched its own green paper on the future of social care funding, which set out a number of potential solutions, including allowing councils to further increase council tax.
The previous month, a joint-committee report suggested that the government should also scrap plans to give councils extra responsibilities as a result of the forthcoming 75% business rates retention plan.
The report added that in addition to other local government finance reforms, a new social care premium should be collected at a national level to support the social care sector.
Reversing course on business rates retention would provide the best solution for England’s adult social care funding crisis, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies in a report earlier this year.
