George Osbourne announces increased care budget in spending review, but is it enough?

George Osbourne is preparing to allow councils to raise council tax by up to 2% in their areas if they are facing a social care funding crisis, which could raise up to £2bn.

With spending having dropped by an average of 2.2% since 2009 it has led to many leading figures across local authorities and NHS providers believing that this will not be enough to cover the shortly funded area. Ben Franklin, ILC’UK’s head of economics of an ageing society said “the future of adult social care looks bleaks, the social care settlement will be insufficient to meet the growing care needs of an ageing population.”

Milburn a former labour health secretary also started “Local councils – under huge financial pressures – have been cutting back funding to residential care homes over the past few years so that today it equates to as little as £2.00 per hour per resident. Many care homes have concluded they cannot make ends meet or provide a good enough service for.

Caroline Abrahams Age UK’s charity director, said the report reinforced a consensus of experts that these government measures would not half a decline in social care.

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