Source · Select Committees · Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Accepted
Paragraph: 94
Plan a sustainable mechanism to deliver billions in annual funding for adult social care.
Recommendation
We reiterate the recommendation we made in our July 2022 report Long-term Funding of Adult Social Care, that the Government needs to recognise the need for more funding to local authorities for delivery of adult social care, in the order of several billions each year, and to plan a sustainable mechanism to deliver this funding, for example through the social care premium recommended by our predecessor committee in 2018.
Government Response Summary
The government has recognized the pressures in adult social care, making available up to £8.6 billion of additional funding over two years, including over £1.5 billion in new grants for 2024-25, to support local authorities in delivering social care.
Paragraph Reference:
94
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
22.T he Government has recognised the pressures in adult social care and has made available up to £8.6 billion of additional funding over two years to support social care and discharge. This additional funding includes significant increases in dedicated grant funding for social care such as the £500 million announced in January, which has specifically been made available to support local authorities with the cost of social care in 2024-25, in response to the feedback the Government received on the provisional settlement. 23.T he final Settlement for 2024-25 provides over £1.5 billion in additional grant for social care through the Settlement for 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. This includes: • £5 billion through the Social Care Grant, a £1.2 billion increase on 2023-24; • £1.1 billion through the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund, a £123 million increase on 2023-24; • £500 million through the Discharge Fund, a £200 million increase to the local authority component on 2023-24; • £2.1 billion through the improved Better Care Fund. 24.T his funding is enabling local authorities to buy more care packages, help people leave hospital on time, improve workforce recruitment and retention, and reduce waiting times for care. When providing funding for ongoing pressures – such as inflation – we have prioritised giving councils as much certainty as possible. For example, we were clear that funding for discharge and the Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund were available for two years and included wording in the MSIF grant conditions to enable local authorities to provide funding for long-term measures such as pay. Sustained Government investment in adult social care has meant that public expenditure on adult social care has increased in real terms for eight consecutive years – reaching £22.9 billion in 2022-23.