By Lucy Phillips
16 November 2010
The government has defended its decision not to ring-fence new council funding for adult social care, despite concerns that it will not be used as intended.
Care services minister Paul Burstow said the government had responded to calls from local government to remove ring-fencing from grants. He confirmed there would be ‘no strings attached’ to the £1bn extra funding for councils to spend on social care, which was announced in last month’s Comprehensive Spending Review.
Doubts have been cast on whether the extra cash will feed through to social care, given the severity of council spending cuts. It was part of a £2bn package of additional funding for social care, with the other £1bn coming from the NHS.
Burstow said the Department of Health would want councils to make their ‘best endeavours’ to spend the new grant on social care, adding: ‘We can’t say that local authorities are to be trusted partners working with us and not trust them to make budget decisions to meet their needs.’
He also told Public Finance that it would be ‘entirely wrong’ to ‘wield a big stick’ given the mounting pressures facing local authorities. ‘We are providing additional resources and this is not the place for the language of sanctions,’ he said.
Richard Jones, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said the impact of the additional funding would not be known until the local government finance settlements were made on December 2. But, given that social care was the biggest area of controllable spending outside schools, he said: ‘Protecting that spend in the context of a reduction – no matter where you are – is going to be very challenging.’
Jones added: ‘The issue will be at local level for local councils to make decisions about the resources available and priorities for their communities.’
The comments came as the government published its vision for adult social care in England, Capable communities and active citizens. This includes the rollout of personal budgets for 1 million eligible people by 2013 and £400m extra funding to support carers. It also advocates a Big Society-style approach, with more community involvement and a move away from in-house provision by councils.
Jones welcomed the vision despite uncertainty over long-term funding for the sector. He said councils, who will provide the personal budgets, could ‘absolutely get going with this’. ‘Personalisation is not about how much money is in the system, it’s about how we operate and the approach we take when we work with citizens,’ he added.
But the Local Government Association warned that councils might not be able to reach the government’s personal budget ‘targets’. David Rogers, chair of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: ‘The challenge of Britain’s ageing population is huge and councils are under massive financial strain having to tackle 28% budget cuts. The extra money for adult social care received in the CSR was much needed, but town halls still anticipate a potential multibillion pound shortfall. This leaves serious questions about the funding to meet these Whitehall targets.’
The social care vision comes ahead of two other government-commissioned reviews of adult social care. One by the Law Commission on legislation is to be published next spring, and the second on funding, chaired by the economist and broadcaster Andrew Dilnot, will be published next summer.
All three documents pave the way for a care and support services white paper by the end of 2011 and legislation in 2012.
