IFS moots centralised social care funding
0Social care funding will need to increase by 3.9% a year to meet the needs of an ageing population and more disabled people, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It suggested that the funding of adult social care could be centralised and allocated across the country according to an assessed level of need.
However, it said: “This would not be painless, and would raise a number of new challenges — not least for the government’s devolution agenda.”
The IFS said that current council discretion over spending levels means that there is considerable variation in social care spending between different areas.
The report said: “Moving from this to a national funding arrangement with national standards, would be complicated, with a whole host of other issues that would require careful consideration.”
Responding to the report, Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board, said: “This report lays bare the scale of the additional funding that is required to sustain care and health services over the next decade.”
She said that current funding levels were “putting at risk” the care provision for an increasing number of people and that without more money more providers would either withdraw from the market or go bust.
Seccombe added this could lead to a shortfall in provision leading to increased demands on the NHS.
