Adult social care in England needs urgent help from ministers, say bosses

England’s overstretched and creaking adult social care services need urgent government intervention to stabilise them financially as rising costs and demand play havoc with council budgets, care bosses have warned.

Rising costs and demand are a huge strain on council budgets and services face ‘intolerable pressures’, says Adass.

There are fears councils that commission care services will be unable to fund contracted care providers’ rising costs. Councils received a 3.2% funding boost at the budget while provider costs are likely to rise by up to 9% next April, when the national living wage goes up by 6.7%, and NI wage thresholds are lowered.

Although an extra £600m for adult and children’s social care was announced in the budget, this is unlikely to cover wage costs, councils have said. Unless wage increases were funded, care services would have to reduce, Adass warned.

One adult social care director responding to the survey described the situation as “the toughest financial challenges the council has ever faced”. Another said its financial predicament had “the potential to break the organisation”. Guardian

November 2024 #DeanHealthcare #socialcare