Baroness Barker: Social care services will 'inevitably suffer' due to funding changes
4 min read
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson for the Voluntary Sector, Baroness Barker, writes ahead of her question today on revenue raised by local authorities who raise council tax to offset the cost of social care.
Social care funding is at risk, this isn’t what the Tories will tell you. They have “given local authorities power to make their own decisions on levels of social care funding" thereby passing the buck to avoid the overwhelming public criticism that will occur when services inevitably suffer.
The Tories have given councils the power to add to council tax a precept of up to 2% to fund social care. This new system will see frightening disparities to funding across the country. Poorer communities will see less money going into their social care whilst others, the richest, will be able to afford the best.
That is why, this week, I am asking the Tory government how much revenue they anticipate local authorities will actually raise from May 2016 when they are able to introduce this precept. It is clear that the Tories don’t understand the need for, and importance of, social care, George Osborne certainly doesn’t.
It was Paul Burstow and Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat ministers under the Coalition Government, who worked to build an equitable and sustainable settlement for social care. The Care Act restated the purpose of social care: enabling the wellbeing of both the person needing care and their carer, prevention and delay of the need for care and support and putting people in control of their care. The inclusion of the main proposals of the Dilnot Commission, laid the foundation for a funding system in which the costs of care would be shared, essentially between property owners and the state, thereby enabling individuals to avoid having to meet catastrophic costs at times of greatest vulnerability.
The IFS previously predicted that the precept could raise up to £1.7bn a year by 2019-20, but only if all local authorities raised the precept by 2% year on year, So far eight local authorities have announced that they will not use the precept this year, so the total amount available will be less than in the headlines which accompanied Osborne’s latest omnishambles.
In 2016-2017 the precept is expected to raise £382m almost all of which will be swallowed up by the cost of meeting the new living wage for existing low paid care staff. It is clear from this data that the social care sector continues in its battle to for funding. There is no long term guarantee from councils either so those who have agreed to fund the precept this year may not do so in future. In the ongoing battle for proper funding victory seems a long way off.
As funding cuts take effect the types and levels of care which individuals can expect will likely be reduced as the decisions are subject to the discretion of increasingly cash strapped local authorities. It is already well known that areas of highest deprivation are least able to raise income through local taxation. Newham. Manchester and Hull are amongst authorities which will be on the sharp end of this policy. Unless and until the Better care Fund is properly funded to equalise disparities, inequality of social care will get worse.
Osborne thinks he has passed the buck, dodging the blame for another cut to vital services, but this is on his head. It is his decision that will increase the distance between services for rich and poor, his decision which will hit those most in need the hardest. In the Lords the Liberal Democrats will be standing up for vulnerable people in poor communities, making sure the foundations put up in coalition are built upon and not torn down.
The Baroness Barker is a Liberal Democrat peer & is her party's Lords Principal Spokesperson for the Voluntary Sector
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