Recommendation 20

We believe that the starting point for the social care funding increase must be an additional £7bn per year by 2023–24 to cover demographic changes, uplift staff pay in line with the National Minimum Wage and to protect people who face catastrophic social care costs. This represents a 34% increase from the 2023–24 £20.4bn adult social care baseline projected budget at today’s prices. In this report we have not examined how such an increase could be funded but we recognise the challenges involved and the need for innovative thinking to address them.