Councils across England are calling for the government to delay the introduction of a cap on adult social care costs, with this being driven by worries that this will be impossible to implement by October 2025.
This news comes following new analysis from the County Councils Network that has identified that the cost for the cap on care, as well as more generous means-testing, have increased by a third. Alongside this, the total costs of the older adults care reforms now come to £30 billion over the course of the next decade – something that councils say is ‘unfunded.’
Thanks to this– and the fact that the new survey says that nine in ten councils are not well prepared to implement these changes – the County Councils Network has urged Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to delay the reforms for a further year at least. Whilst the plans have been supported by councils, the government would be required to find tens of billions of pounds worth of additional resources over the next decade to make sure that the reforms can work.
Findings outlined in the County Councils Network’s report, titled Adult Social Care Charging Reform, include:
- Thanks to inflation and heightened demand, the minimum cost of the reforms over nine years is now £30bn
- County and rural councils are the most exposed to these costs, with 63% of the whole costs of the means-test cap coming in those areas
- Funding is councils’ biggest concern about the reforms, with no money set aside for them
- Councils are not well prepared for the reforms thanks to staffing, funding and timescale concerns
- Every council believes that adequate funding is integral to making the reforms work
- The funding that was re-prioritised away from the reforms in 2022 – worth £1.7bn – has kept day-to-day adult social care services running
- Should that funding then be used for reform, this could bring significant consequences
- The top priority for councils is ensuring that services remain at the level they are at now, as well as investing in workforce capacity.
County Councils Network’s Adult Social Care Spokesperson, Cllr Martin Tett, said:
“We are just over 15 months away from the introduction of seismic reforms in adult social care, and the new government must make an urgent decision on their future. Councils have serious concerns over their deliverability: these new estimates show the costs have increased significantly to £30bn over the next decade, while currently, the reforms are totally unfunded. The political hiatus before the election also meant preparations have been suspended nationally, while locally councils have been focused on day-to-day services, and still face major shortages in social workers.
“As a result, nine in ten local authorities are not well prepared to implement the reforms in October 2025. To put it bluntly, it will be impossible to implement these reforms next Autumn in the current timescales and with no funding committed to the reforms. Equally, the government cannot take money currently being spent on day-to-day adult social care services for these reforms, with our survey showing it will have devastating consequences for councils and the thousands of people who rely on local authority care.
“We have always supported the principles of the reforms, as they will make the system fairer. But if the government is to proceed with the reforms, then it must delay them by at least a year – but likely more – reassess the real costs and set out a way to fully fund them. We understand yet another delay will be frustrating for campaigners, but under current circumstances introducing them next year could have some serious consequences.”
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