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LGA responds to call for more money for adult social care and public health
Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, responded to a letter to the Chancellor from leading healthcare groups calling for more money to be invested in adult social care and public health services
“Adult social care is vital in its own right and we have been clear for some time that the service is at breaking point and in desperate need of genuinely new funding to secure its future.
“Despite significant funding pressures, councils have made great progress in reducing the number of people in hospital due to a lack of available social care. To help councils build on this work and reduce pressures on the NHS, it is essential adult social care is put on an equal footing with the health service. Without new funding we risk going backwards and undoing the great work that has been achieved to date. This will impact on people across the country.
“The Chancellor should use the Budget to stabilise adult social care in the here and now, set out a long-term sustainable funding solution, and as a minimum reverse the false economy of the cuts to councils’ public health budgets.
“Social care, public health and other council services that support people’s wider wellbeing help people live longer, healthier and happier lives, but the reality is that many local authorities are having to make difficult decisions on these key services, including stopping them altogether, further compounding the pressures on GP surgeries and hospitals.”
Notes
Adult social care faces a £3.5 billion funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards of care. Following government’s decision to delay its green paper on adult social care, the LGA published its own green paper consultation to drive forward the public debate on what sort of care and support we need to improve people’s wellbeing and independence, the need to focus on prevention work, and, crucially, how we fund these vital services.
There has been a £600 million reduction to councils’ public health grants between 2015/16 and 2019/20.
'The lives we want to lead' – The LGA green paper for adult social care and wellbeing
Adult social care and support matters. High quality social care and support helps people live the life they want to live. It helps bind our communities, it sustains our NHS and it provides essential economic value to our country.