Adult social care directors are warning that a failure to fully fund new burdens arising from the Care Act could jeopardise the reforms' success, exclusive research carried out by The MJ and older people's charity Independent Age, has revealed today.
With less than a month to go before councils will have to implement what the Government has described as the ‘biggest reforms to the social care system in more than 60 years', there is widespread concern among directors.
While they support the aims of the Act, directors fear realistic levels of funding are not in place and new rights for carers threaten to overwhelm councils.
They also expressed fears over whether they would have enough money to implement the new wellbeing duty – one of the main features of the legislation.
None of the councils that took part in the research said the funding they have been given for implementation was entirely sufficient.
One unitary director described his council's need to cut 15% of its social care budget amid increasing price pressures as ‘potentially catastrophic'.
The unknown funding and demand burdens – with the Act expected to bring tens of thousands of additional carers into the social care system –remains a huge risk to implementation, with one director predicting spending on other services will have to be cut to ensure new duties are met.
Another director said: ‘The costs of the new duties towards carers are likely to dwarf the new funding made available.'
Independent Age chief executive Janet Morrison said: ‘For too long carers have been denied the basic help they need to manage their caring role, but we worry these aspirations risk not being fulfilled.
'Local authorities must get the funding they need to carry out their responsibilities.
'This means protecting spending on adult care in the same way politicians of all parties have pledged to protect the NHS.'
Chairman of the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, added: ‘These findings support what local government has been warning – that the success of the Care Act will depend on adequate funding.
‘Councils still have serious concerns about having enough money to implement changes and the impact this could have on both adult social care and wider council services.
‘It would be an absolute tragedy if insufficient funding jeopardised these desperately needed changes.'
President of the Association of Directors of Ault Services, David Pearson, said: ‘The Care Act is the most significant reform to health and social care in recent years and naturally directors will have concerns about its implementation.
‘We and other stakeholders have been working closely with the Department of Health to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.
‘Regular stock takes with all councils have been taking place and have shown some confidence in our ability to deliver the legislation.
‘While there are concerns, particularly about making sure the changes are properly funded, we are pleased that government has committed to actively monitoring demands over the next year so that we can assess and manage emerging pressures.
‘Those pressures will include the fact that any new funding for new responsibilities is in the context of a 26 per cent, £3.5bn reduction in social care funding in the last four years.
‘We also know that there is projected to be a £4.3bn funding gap for social care opening up between now and 2020.'
See our Care Focus for a more in-depth look at the results by clicking here
