As councils work through the Government’s adult social care charging reform proposals and look to set balanced budgets for the forthcoming financial year, it is becoming increasingly clear that funding allocated for them through the new Health and Social Care Levy is likely to be insufficient by some margin.

Several councils have approached the Local Government Association (LGA) expressing their concerns and explaining the serious situation they could find themselves in if the reforms are underfunded. These councils cite cost increases of tens of millions of pounds over the next few years, which could potentially see enormous impacts on the services they are able to provide and their overall financial viability.