Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Accepted
Paragraph: 75
One-year funding settlements and short-term grants are hampering local authorities’ ability to plan and to...
Recommendation
One-year funding settlements and short-term grants are hampering local authorities’ ability to plan and to deliver value for money, which in turn affects local care markets as it makes it more difficult for local authorities to enter longer term contracts with providers. The Government must provide a multi-year funding settlement to give local authorities the visibility they need both for their own sustainability and also to help shape sustainable local care markets. It should also aim to make announcements about grants and social care precept at an earlier stage in councils’ budgeting cycle.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government states that in developing the People at the Heart of Care white paper, it engaged extensively with other government departments, and has worked closely with colleagues across government since the white paper publication to produce the recently published Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
75
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted
We understand the benefits for councils of a Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) spanning multiple years. We will aim to provide a multi-year funding settlement wherever possible in recognition of its importance to councils’ budget setting processes and to delivering excellent public services. We released a policy statement in December to provide forward notice of some of the measures which will be included in the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement 2023–24 and the elements we expect to maintain into 2024–25. By providing this information ahead of the provisional settlement and setting out expectations for 2024–25 we hoped to support council’s budget setting process by giving councils greater additional, multi-year certainty over their funding levels. The final LGFS for 2023–24 was published on 6 February. Alongside this, the government published an explanatory note for the social care resources within the Settlement to support local authorities in their budget-setting processes for 2024–25. This note set out additional detail on the Social Care Grant, Discharge Funding through the Better Care Fund, and the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund. 18 Government response Conclusion 17 – update the ASC relative needs formula Conclusion 17 - The geographical inequity of relying on council tax to provide the majority of funding for adult social care is compounded by an out-of-date adult social care relative needs formula.
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