Today, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid presented the local government settlement, allowing councils to increase council tax by 6% over two years to raise extra funds for adult social care.

Vicky McDermott, Chair of the Care and Support Alliance, said:

“We welcome any extra money for our chronically underfunded care system which currently leaves at least 1 million older and disabled people without the care they need.

“But this temporary injection of cash is a drop in the ocean and  does nothing to solve the long challenges facing the system.

“The crisis in care has resulted in unnecessary pressure on the NHS, with delayed discharge reaching record highs. Fixing our social care crisis will free up NHS beds and budget.

“This Government needs to urgently look at a long-term funding solution to create a care system that we all want to see, which ensures: there are beds in care homes for people who need it; that home care gives people dignity in their own home; that carers don’t have to work themselves into ill health to care for their family; and that hospitals don’t have to prop up a falling system.”

Ends

–       The Care and Support Alliance represents over 90 of Britain’s leading charities campaigning alongside the millions of older people, disabled people and their carers who deserve decent care.

Supportive Statistics

–  Government investment in social care has fallen by one third in the last five years (2010 – 2015). This amounts to an overall shortfall of £4.6 billion in investment in social care, due to £1.6 billion worth of cash cuts in social care budgets: https://www.adass.org.uk/media/5379/adass-budget-survey-report-2016.pdf#sthash.5jIFKZuB.dpuf

– More than a million older and disabled people are unable to get the care they need. Source: Age UK, Health and Care of Older People: http://www.ageuk.org.uk/Documents/EN-GB/For-professionals/Research/Briefing-The_Health_and_Care_of_Older_People_in_England-2015-UPDATED_JAN2016.pdf?dtrk=true#sthash.5jIFKZuB.dpuf

-Delayed discharge rates are at record breaking highs and at levels we normally only see during winter crisis:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/delayed-transfers-of-care/2016-17-data/#sthash.5jIFKZuB.dpuf