Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 20
20
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 86
The lack of information about how the reforms add up to £5.4 billion, why each...
Conclusion
The lack of information about how the reforms add up to £5.4 billion, why each reform was allocated the amount it was allocated, and how funding will be distributed, does little to instil confidence that the Government has thought through its plans. We have expressed our concerns numerous times about the unrealistic demands of requiring councils to compete for relatively small pots of funding, which larger and better funded authorities can win. The Government’s response to our report should include a full breakdown of how the £5.4 billion from the Health and Social Care Levy will be divided between the different reforms with a rationale for each amount, including why some amounts are “at least” and others are “up to”. It should also set out how each pot of funding will be distributed, avoiding using bids as a means of allocating grants as much as possible, and providing justification for any element of competition.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government emphasizes that local authorities are responsible for ensuring sufficient workforce capacity to meet care needs in their area, and highlights the measures they are taking subject to monitoring and evaluation.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
86
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
In December 2021, People at the Heart of Care was published, setting out the government’s 10-year vision for adult social care. These reforms were to be funded by the announced Health and Care Levy, which has since been repealed, but overall funding for health and social care will be maintained at the same level as if the Levy was in place. Part of the £5.4 billion was to implement charging reform, but as mentioned above we have taken the difficult decision to delay implementation, £1.3 billion in 2023–24 and £1.9 billion 2024–25 in savings from this decision will be distributed via the existing Social Care Grant that supports local authorities to meet the current pressures in social care. We are also creating a new grant worth £1.4 billion (£562 million in 2023–24 and £845 million in 2024–25) to support market sustainability and improvement. This grant is a combination of new funding confirmed in the Autumn Statement, and £162 million in each year of funding previously earmarked in our reforms for supporting local authorities to move towards paying a fair cost of care. 22 Government response Our Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan sets out how we are investing £700 million in reform, and when the public will see the results of our investment. These key system reform commitments include: • at least £250 million for workforce recognition and career development • £102 million for supporting people to remain independent at home • over £100 million for digital transformation in adult social care • up to £50 million for better insight and join up of care through stronger data and local authority assurance • at least £35 million for innovation and improvement • up to an additional £25 million to support unpaid carers • £15 million to support international recruitment • at least £3 million to support volunteers and the people who work with them Of the £1.7 billion the white paper committed to reform, up to £600 million remains to be allocated, which will be invested over the next two years after we have drawn on lessons learned from our investment in improving discharge. This will make sure we are effectively targeting the areas that matter most to people. Conclusion 21 – working across government Conclusion 21 - Given how fundamentally social care policies made by DHSC affect local authorities’ capacity, budgets, and residents, it is vital that DHSC and DLUHC work together closely on developing and delivering such policies. We were struck by the discrete division of answers to questions by Ministers, who rarely supplemented one another’s answers, and the separate follow-up letters that we received.
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