As part of the provisional local government finance settlement for 2019/20, the Government has now allocated £650m for social care.
At the Budget, the Government responded to the pressures that local authorities are facing by allocating additional resources across the system to support social care. This funding includes £240m in both 2018/19 and 2019/20 to support adult social care services to reduce pressures on the NHS, and an additional £410m in the form of a Social Care Support Grant for local authorities to support adults and children’s social care services.
These additional resources, alongside the Adult Social Care council tax precept and the Improved Better Care Fund, means councils can now access £10 billion in dedicated social care funding. Overall, the provisional local government finance settlement for 2019/20 confirms Core Spending Power is forecast to increase to £46.4bn in 2019/20, a cash-increase of 2.8% and a real-terms increase in resources available for local authorities.
Communities Secretary, Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP, said:
“I’m delivering a settlement which paves the way for a fairer, more self-sufficient and resilient future for local government and a brighter future for the people and places they serve. This settlement delivers a real-terms increase in spending for local authorities in 2019 to 2020 and gives them more control over the money they raise too, while protecting residents against excessive council tax rises.”
Giles said:
“It is great news that even more funding is being made available for adult social care – this is on top of the £5.9m that Essex received recently for adult social care this winter. I know that this is an important issue for local residents, as we have such a large population of older people in the Clacton constituency. This settlement, and the extra funding announced in the Budget, will provide extra support for the vulnerable, support quality public services, and local economic growth.”