Local authorities in England will receive £650m of funding for social care next year, the Government has announced.
Unveiling the budget 2018 in Parliament today, chancellor Philip Hammond said local authorities will get a £650m funding grant for social care for 2019/20.
The cash injection comes on top of the £240m funding announced by health and social care secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month to prepare social care for the winter pressures.
Funding breakdown
Under Mr Hammond’s plans, local authorities will receive the following funding:
- A £650m funding grant for social care in 2019/20.
- An additional £45m for the disabled facilities grant for 2018/19.
- An extra £84m for the next five years to expand children’s social care programmes to an additional 20 councils dealing with a high or rising number of children in care.
Mr Hammond said the ‘era of austerity is coming to an end’. However, he added that ‘discipline will remain’.
He said ‘longer-term decisions’ on social care will be agreed during the spending review, which is expected to be announced next year, subject to the outcome of the Brexit deal, or lack thereof.
Funding ‘falls short’
According to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), social care services need an extra £2.3bn by 2019/20 to just ‘stand still’.
Responding to today’s announcement, ADASS president Glen Garrod said the £650m falls ‘far short’ of the £2.3bn, given how councils have struggled with ‘funding shortfalls for years’.
He added: ‘With rising need and increasing complexity, the demand for care and support services is only going to increase.
‘This budget has failed to provide the long-term funding solution that social care desperately needs – and whilst the extra investment is welcome, the need for that long-term approach has never been more urgent.’
The Government said it will produce its must-anticipated green paper, looking at sustainable ways of funding adult social care in the future, by November.
