Council spends £1.5m on single person's 'complex needs' amid fears over adult social care cash crisis

Yahoo

11-02-2025

MPs have been warned about the scale of adult social care bills decimating council funding — with one local authority reportedly spending £1.5 million on an individual's care without receiving any additional financial support.
On Wednesday, MPs heard about the struggles buckling local authorities are facing, with the experts warning that adult social care is "the biggest long-term pressure" councils face.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils around the country, said they face a £6.2 billion funding gap over the next two years due to rising costs in adult social care, children's services, and other essential support.
Adult social care experts ADASS warning that local authorities are facing unprecedented pressure, with overspending and reliance on short-term solutions.
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, highlighted the disparity in funding through one council supporting a person with complex needs care from three support staff.
"I spoke recently to a chief executive [of a local council] who said we are spending £1.5 million a year supporting one individual with very complex needs because they require around the clock care," Carr-West told MPs on the housing, communities and local government select committee.
"Our funding is almost entirely drawn through council tax - so is our neighbouring authority.
"This person - as it happens - lives about two streets away from the boundary. If they lived three streets west, that bill would fall on a different local authority. There's nothing in the way that we are funded that recognises we have that cost and our neighbours don't," he added.
Adult social care now accounts for more than 40% of all local authority spending on services in England, with the number of new requests for support from individuals aged 18–64 growing by nearly 20% in the last eight years - three times faster than the growth of the age group's population, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Due to other cost pressures and the gutting of council budgets dating back to austerity, many councils report significant deficits in their adult social care budgets. For example, one council spending £94.6 million annually on adult social care faces a £17.1 million funding gap.
Despite real-terms increases in funding since 2019–20, English local government funding per resident remains on average 19% below 2010 levels and councils are under evident financial pressure, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
To combat costs, millions of people now face council tax hikes over normal thresholds after the government allowed six areas to boost rates above the usual 5%.
The government has planned a £1 billion increase in adult social care funding for 2025-26, but Adass warns that it falls short of covering the estimated £1.8 billion in additional costs driven by rising national insurance contributions and the national living wage announced in the Budget.
To fund adult social care, "you need to think of preventative support much earlier on," Aileen Murphie, the director of DCLG & Local government value for money at UK National Audit Office, said.
Years ago, the National Audit Office could see that adult social care rise "was upward and the cost would follow."
"People are waiting a long time for assessment, and a long time for services." she told MPs. Because of that, "they come into the system that much more dependent".
"If they go into residential care, they never come out," she added.
In a bid to tackle the issue, the government has announced its plans to create a National Care Service.
The proposals, touted by health secretary Wes Streeting, outlined an ambitious plan to create a publicly funded system of social care across the UK.
However, the government was criticised for the time it would take to create the service, with the results of a three-year consultation detailed in full in 2028.
Sarah Woolnough, chief executive at The King's Fund, welcomed the announcement, but urged the government to 'accelerate the timing'.
'The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," she warned.