Extra £1.5 billion announced for social care in Chancellor's Spending Review

In today’s Spending Round the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, has announced he is to commit £1.5 billion in new funding for social care.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Javid promised to ‘turn the page on austerity’, whilst detailing a £13.8 billion Whitehall spending spree for public services.

The extra funding for social care is comprised of £1 billion through a new grant and £500 million through the adult social care precept.

Government will be ‘held to account’ for funding promise

Professor Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, welcomed the funding. He said: “If the Chancellor had neglected social care his Comprehensive Spending Review it would have morphed into an incomprehensive spending review as it is essential to set the books straight for social care.”

The care leader, however, showed some caution by warning that the funding “must reach the front line”. Care England has said it will seek to work with the Treasury to ensure that the extra funding is delivered to front line care services.

Professor Green also said, “it is right social care is allocated a greater share of the joint resources”.

The charity director at Age UK, Caroline Abrahams, echoed those comments. She said: “Although the devil is often in the detail when it comes to Government spending announcements, on the face of it the extra money announced for social care in 2020/21 should help to keep our current care system tottering along for another year. It should also hopefully mean that local authorities will not have to cut back their care spending this autumn, as many had warned was likely.

“How useful this money will be will depend on how long the Government takes to act on implementing a new action plan for social care. We will certainly hold this Government to its pledges.”

Announcement welcomed by local Government

Today’s announcement will also be welcome news for local councils who have been under a huge amount of financial pressure trying to meet the care needs of a growing ageing population on a reduced budget. This has also put pressure on their other services.

Cllr David Williams, chairman-elect of the County Councils Network said: “We are pleased that the Government has listened to our calls for a funding boost and the additional £1.5bn for social care, coupled with council tax flexibilities, and £700m for special educational needs, will give councils some real breathing space over the next 18 months and will allow us to protect vital services for our communities that otherwise would have been left with a question mark hanging over them.

Cllr James Jamieson, Chairman of the Local Government Association, was also encouraged by the news. He said: “We are delighted that today’s Spending Round has delivered a funding package of more than £3.5 billion for our vital local services next year.

“This is the biggest year on year real-terms increase in spending power for local Government in a decade and will allow councils to meet the rising cost and demand pressures they face in 2020/21.

“The LGA has worked hard to demonstrate to the Government the financial pressures facing councils next year. We are pleased it has responded to our calls and acted by providing desperately needed new money next year, including £1 billion for social care and £700 million for children and young people with special educational needs."

Extra funds ‘the equivalent of putting a bit of extra fuel in the tank’

Responding to today’s Spending Round, Sally Warren, director of policy at The King’s Fund, said: “In the context of a one-year settlement, today’s commitments to extra funding are better news for health and social care services than may have been expected.

“NHS England already benefits from a five-year financial settlement, but the decision not to commit to a longer-term settlement for the rest of the health and care system will leave the NHS, social care and public health without the certainty needed to stabilise and improve services as set out the NHS Long-term Plan. It’s the equivalent of putting a bit of extra fuel in the tank when the car urgently needs a full service.

“Adult social care was the most pressing priority facing the Government in this Spending Round, and the Chancellor has provided much-needed extra funds. But the money provided today is the bare minimum needed to patch up services for another year and will not be enough to improve services for the people, families and carers who are being let down by the current system.”

Ms Abrahams from Age UK also felt the amount pledged wouldn’t last long with current demand. She said: “The care system is in such bad shape that this new money, welcome as it is, will only buy some time for the next 12 months, it will not be sufficient to address the strategic challenges care faces, including sky-high turnover among staff.

“For this we will have to wait for the Government’s care reform plan which the Chancellor promised we would see ‘in due course’ today. For many millions of sick and disabled adults, older people in declining health and family carers, and for our many dedicated paid care workers too, this plan cannot come too soon.”