LGA Responds To Kings Fund Report On Care Home Services

Responding to a report by The King’s Fund and the University of York on home care services, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:

“This worrying report is further evidence of the funding crisis in adult social care and its consequences.

“The squeeze on local government funding overall, coupled with rising demand and increasing cost pressures in adult social care, mean many councils are having to make significant savings and reductions within adult social care, which is impacting on an ever more fragile provider market.

“Government needs to plug the £3.5 billion funding gap facing adult social care by 2025 to ensure that quality home care provision is available and continues to play its vital role in supporting people to remain independent and well at home, rather than in costlier settings such as care homes or hospitals. With the right investment and profile, the care profession should be made to be a more attractive, rewarding and fulfilling career.

“While one-off funding injections may help curb the severity of immediate pressures, they are only short-term. The Government needs to be bold in its forthcoming Green Paper by setting out options to secure the stability and sustainability of social care for the long term. The LGA’s own green paper sets out a series of recommendations to government to future-proof the long term sustainability of adult social care.”