made available Nearly a year after the Chancellor’s announcement, the evidence from NHS statistics, temporary closures of A&E, influential reports and continued budget cuts in council adult social care budgets show the government’s response is inadequate. According to this year’s ADASS annual budget survey, adult social care planned £941m savings in 2016/17 or 7% of adult social care budgets. This is on top of the £1.1bn reduction in 2015/16. The situation continues to go unrecognised by ministers. In July, the new Secretary of Sajid Javid, failed to acknowledge the scale of the problem, and refused to accept that adult social care was underfunded. Two per cent council tax social care precept Councils need extra resources for social care now. Councils in the most deprived areas have the greatest social care needs, yet they will raise less than more affluent councils do. Hackney (second most deprived) has an social care budget of £65m the 2% precept – raises £1.3m whereas Richmond on Thames (296th most deprived) has an adult social care budget of £65.6m and the 2% precept raises £2.2m. The least deprived authorities generally raise over 3% of their adult social care budgets, while the most deprived generally raise between 1% and 2%. Impact on the NHS Delayed discharge Two influential reports, published in 2016, show that the delayed discharge of patients is costing the NHS £800m to £900m a year. , The latest figures from NHS England show that the position is dramatically worsening. The graph below shows that the number of delayed bed days in the last 12 months. The government understands the significance of the issue. The previous Chancellor specifically drew attention to it in the spending review 2013, claiming that £1 billion ‘around a year to support the health needs of people in social care’ invested as a result of spending review 2010 had and saved hundreds of millions’ and almost 50,000 fewer ‘worked, ‘meant bed days were lost to the NHS’.
made available Nearly a year after the Chancellor’s announcement, the evidence from NHS statistics, temporary closures of A&E, influential reports and continued budget cuts in council adult social care budgets show the government’s response is inadequate. According to this year’s ADASS annual budget survey, adult social care planned £941m savings in 2016/17 or 7% of adult social care budgets. This is on top of the £1.1bn reduction in 2015/16. The situation continues to go unrecognised by ministers. In July, the new Secretary of Sajid Javid, failed to acknowledge the scale of the problem, and refused to accept that adult social care was underfunded. Two per cent council tax social care precept Councils need extra resources for social care now. Councils in the most deprived areas have the greatest social care needs, yet they will raise less than more affluent councils do. Hackney (second most deprived) has an social care budget of £65m – the 2% precept raises £1.3m whereas Richmond on Thames (296th most deprived) has an adult social care budget of £65.6m and the 2% precept raises £2.2m. The least deprived authorities generally raise over 3% of their adult social care budgets, while the most deprived generally raise between 1% and 2%. Impact on the NHS Delayed discharge Two influential reports, published in 2016, show that the delayed discharge of patients is costing the NHS £800m to £900m a year. , The latest figures from NHS England show that the position is dramatically worsening. The graph below shows that the number of delayed bed days in the last 12 months. The government understands the significance of the issue. The previous Chancellor specifically drew attention to it in the spending review 2013, claiming that ‘around £1 billion a year to support the health needs of people in social care’ invested as a result of spending review 2010 had ‘worked, and saved hundreds of millions’ and ‘meant almost 50,000 fewer bed days were lost to the NHS’.
INVESTING-IN-SOCIAL-CARE-FINAL-11-November-2016-new.docx