Cap on care must be fully funded, warns county leaders

A new County Councils Network report says that social care must remain a local service and the government should ‘not be swayed’ by overly-simplistic arguments to combine all, or elements of social care into the NHS.

Sustainable Social Care: A Green Paper that Delivers a New Deal for Counties sets out the County Councils Network’s policy positions on adult social care, ahead of the forthcoming government green paper, and argues that government plans to introduce a cap on care must be fully-funded otherwise it will inadvertently push services, care providers and councils closer to breaking point.

Counties are currently facing a funding gap of £1.6 billion in social care by 2020/21, with the average county authority now spending 45 per cent of its entire budget on adult social care. Therefore, the CCN claims that councils’ role in the reform and integration agenda should not be overlooked by government and that prevention must form a key focus of the upcoming green paper, recommending that the government invest a ‘significant’ proportion of the £20 billion NHS windfall in primary, community, and mental health services.

Furthermore, if government implements a cap on care at £50,000 per individual, this could cost county authorities collectively £691 million a year, double that of a £72,000 cap which was previously put forward in 2014, and dropped from the Conservative election manifesto on 2017. County leaders suggest these reforms could be filled by national taxation and means-testing of winter fuel allowance and attendance allowance to avoid ‘catastrophic consequences’ for local services.

David Williams, CCN spokesman for health and social care, and leader of Hertfordshire County Council, said: “This report today sets out policy proposals for government ahead of the social-care green paper. The status quo is no longer an option; ministers must be bold in ensuring sustainable financial reform. With care services and the NHS interdependent investing in one but not the other is financially irresponsible.

“Above all, social care must continue to stay a local service and ministers should not be swayed by overly-simplistic arguments to combine all, or elements of social care within the NHS. The challenges local government has faced in delivering balanced budgets whilst ensuring that those most in need receive high-quality care must not be underestimated – without the leadership and innovation shown at a local level, the present situation could have been a lot worse.”

Population projections show that the number of over 85 households in county areas are set to balloon by 155 per cent by 2039, rising from 491,000 to 1,254 million. This growth in rural areas represents over half of the country’s entire projected growth in over 85s, with on average 53 per cent of social care users in counties self-funding their care.