Recommendation 1

The failure to properly fund children’s and adult social care, especially adult social care, is the single biggest threat facing local government financial resilience. Given that the cost of providing social care consumes between 60% and 70% of the budgets of top-tier councils, a solution to this funding crisis alone could largely restore local government finances. The Government’s current policy of effectively forcing local councils to impose successive above-inflation council tax rises is imposing additional burdens on council tax payers. It is disappointing that the recent Queen’s Speech made so little mention of plans to reform social care funding. We are also concerned about the cuts to more discretionary services arising from councils’ need to prioritise social care provision. We recommend that the Government urgently reform the funding of social care in England. (Paragraph 13) Funding