We sign LGA joint statement on adult social care

Community Integrated Care is proud to join over 100 care and support providers in signing a joint public statement, for the future of adult social care.

Published by the Local Government Association the statement sets out the need for Government to work with the sector, to mitigate the pressures on councils, providers and charities and bring about the long-term changes needed to build a care and support system that enables everyone to live the life they want to lead.

Emphasising the impact of rising costs, such as the increase in National Insurance contributions, and the need for organisations and the government to come together to make positive change, the statement reads:

“When properly resourced and organised, adult social care is an important way in which adults of all ages, with different reasons for drawing on care, are able to live their best life. It is critical to a well-functioning NHS, which is more important than ever as we head into winter, and the delivery of the Government’s ambitions for the NHS.”

“While the recent Budget provided welcome additional funding for local government, its announced changes to employer National Insurance contributions (ENICs) have created significant new cost pressures, which exacerbate the risk of adult social care not being the best it can be. The Local Government Association estimates that ENICs changes create £1.77 billion in additional costs for councils; £637 million for directly employed staff and £1.13 billion through indirect costs via commissioned providers, including £628 million for adult social care alone. This pressure is not the only one bearing down on councils and their partners. In adult social care, increases to the National Living Wage, inflation and demography creates a further pressure of well over another £1 billion.”

“The scope for savings and efficiencies is now extremely limited and current funding is insufficient to cover the above pressures, let alone make progress with some of the serious challenges the social care sector is grappling with.”

“The Care Provider Alliance estimates that: 73 per cent of social care providers will need to refuse to accept new packages of care from councils or the NHS; 64 per cent will need to let staff go; 76 per cent will need to make cuts to training and resources for staff; and 22 per cent will close down their businesses. The charity sector will likely be hit hard, too, both through the ENICs costs they face and the inevitable reduction in funding from local government as councils do what they have to do to deliver, by law, a balanced budget. Some of these consequences, such as closures, will leave a permanent scar, even if funding increases in the future. People – those drawing on care and support, those delivering it, and those overseeing its provision – will bear the brunt of these pressures.”

“If the Government gets fully behind adult social care, recognises its inherent value to us all, and sees funding for it as an investment rather than a cost, we can avoid the level of risk described above. It is an opportunity that people across the country cannot afford to see missed.”

Find out more and read the full statement here.