Communities Secretary Sajid Javid recently confirmed dedicated adult social care funding will form a key part of continued long-term financial certainty for councils.
Included in the pledge was a £240 million dedicated social care grant for councils in 2017, a greater flexibility for local authorities over the Council Tax social care precept and continued certainty with the historic 4-year funding settlement.
Mr Javid confirmed plans for councils to be able to raise an additional £208 million for social care, by having the flexibility to increase the dedicated social care precept by up to 3% this year if they choose.
Mr Javid said: –
“This government is committed to making sure this is a country that works for everyone and that our most vulnerable in society get the support they need. Today’s additional funding and flexibility will mean councils will have £7.6 billion in total dedicated social care funding over the 4 years of the settlement to do just that.”
These changes come after Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, informed government in early 2016 that the social care system “is actually in a rather worse state than people are pretending” and a CQC report from October 2016 that set out the growing strain on services for the elderly.
