ADASS Spring Budget Survey: CCN response

Today the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has released its Spring Budget Survey, which highlights the challenges faced by local authorities in delivering social care services.

The report, which is released annually, can be read here. It warns of an incredibly challenging winter to come, exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, and highlights new and emerging issues within adult social care referrals such as mental health.

This warning follows on from advocacy from the County Councils Network (CCN), which highlighted that inflation could add more than £400m to county local authority’s adult social care budgets this year.

CCN has also carried out an analysis with Newton, which analysed the costs of the government’s proposed reforms for social care, due to be implemented next October. Read that analysis here.

Below, CCN responds to the ADASS survey.

Cllr Martin Tett, Adult Social Care Spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said:

“Today’s report from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) is another important piece of analysis in illustrating how fragile and under pressure the current system is.

“The government’s social care reforms package could improve the accessibility of services and make the system fairer, but as the County Councils Network (CCN) has argued, they will not address the immediate challenges councils face in delivering care services, including the emerging issues highlighted today. We support ADASS’s calls for further funding for local authorities this year, with inflation adding at least £430m to county local authority budgets.

“Looking further ahead, the government’s reforms, which are due to be implemented next year, could pose substantive challenges for local government. CCN’s analysis shows that these reforms could ne underfunded by at least £10bn in the decade from when they are introduced, with county areas most exposed. We urge the next government to closely examine the quantum and distribution of funding for these reforms ahead of their inception.”