Change in statutory demands needed as adult care costs grow, says LGA

A fundamental change may be required in the statutory demands placed on councils, the Local Government Association has argued after warning that a prospective £16.5bn funding shortfall could force councils to significantly reduce and possibly end entire service areas.

Publishing financial projections for 2010/11 to 2019/20, which it said were based on conservative estimates, the LGA highlighted the rising cost of adult social care and other statutory responsibilities such as social services, waste collection and concessionary travel.

It warned that these areas would “soak up almost all of council spending”, shrinking the money available for the provision of services such as road maintenance, libraries and leisure centres by 90% in cash terms.

The Association said that the 28% reduction in money given to councils by central government between 2010/11 and 2014/15 had “contributed considerably to this situation”.

Reporting that spending on care would pass 45% of council budgets by 2019/20, the LGA called on ministers to introduce reforms of how adult social care is paid for.

In addition to asking the Government for an immediate injection of money to meet rising demands for adult care, the LGA called for:

• A fairer funding system “with clarity about what the public and the state is expected to contribute towards care costs”;
• A simpler legal framework for care and support to make the system easier to understand and navigate;
• Progress on making the right links with health, public health and housing to improve services for the individual and efficiency for the tax payer;
• Adequate resource for the system and recognition that structural reform and increased funding "must go hand in hand".

The Association said councils should be given access to the resources needed to deliver the range of services demanded by residents, and the government should consider the possibility of applying an integrated community budgets model to a wider range of local services.

The LGA meanwhile said residents’ expectations of the services they could expect from their local authority would have to change.

Improved efficiency would not be enough to cover the funding gap and savings through workforce restructurings would be increasingly difficult, it warned.

Sir Merrick Cockell, LGA Chairman, said: “By the end of the decade councils may be forced to wind down some of the most popular services they provide unless urgent action is taken to address the crisis in adult social care funding.

“Efficiency savings won’t go close to solving this problem. We need an immediate injection of money into the adult care system to meet rising demand in the short term, alongside a major revision of the way it is paid for and delivered in future.”

Sir Merrick said the issue went beyond the country’s aging population and hit right at the heart of the future of public services.

He warned: “The lines on the charts in this report are the converging train tracks that will carry the most immediate and popular public services into history unless the passengers – government, councils and the voters – draw a new map for organising and funding local public service, and draw it now.” 

A YouGov poll of 1,761 adults published today found that libraries and leisure facilities are the most widely-used services provided by councils. Just 11% of residents had experience of elderly care provided by social services.

The LGA is holding its annual conference in Birmingham this week.