Page 16 - Unfair To Care 2024 - Who Cares Wins

SECTION 3: INTRODUCTION
THE WIDER LANDSCAPE AND CONTEXT
THE NEED FOR CENTRAL GOVERNMENT INVESTMENT IN FAIR PAY FOR FRONTLINE CARE AND SUPPORT WORKERS TAKES PLACE IN THE CONTEXT OF SEVERE CHALLENGES FACING THE SOCIAL CARE SECTOR AND ITS WORKFORCE.
SOCIAL CARE FINANCES UNDER SEVERE PRESSURE
Social care is funded and delivered through local authorities, who are largely dependent upon the funding they can generate through local taxation. Central government support for local authorities has declined significantly
over the last decade with the National Audit Office estimating that total government funding for local authorities across England has fallen in real terms by 52.3% between 2010/11 and 2020/2111.
This decline in government funding for local authorities has contributed to the struggling state of the adult social care system in England. The 2022/23 Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) State of Care report12 spells out, in no uncertain terms, the challenges facing the system, including higher costs, lower quality of care, unsustainability of services, reduced access to care services, and increased inequality.
CQC state that adult social care providers are facing increased running costs including food and electricity, with some struggling to pay their staff wage increases in line with inflation, which affects recruitment and
retention. It says this is likely to have an impact on people, both in the quality of care they receive and in providers’ ability to re-invest in care services.
They also raise concerns that local authority budgets have failed to keep pace with rising costs and the increase in the number of people needing care.
As adult social care places that are funded by a local authority are often less financially viable, there is the risk that people who live in more deprived communities are more likely to receive local authority-funded care, so may not be able to access the care and support they need.
The report brings attention to some people who pay for their own care at home, who have to cut back on visits to support their basic needs. It cites one homecare provider that has increased their rates due to the cost-of-living crisis and increased fuel prices. Tragically, as a result of this, some people had to reduce their care visits to a minimum, which had an obvious impact upon their quality of life.
DIFFERENT CLASSES OF AUTHORITY RECEIVE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SETTLEMENT FUNDING FROM CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
Settlement funding, £ per person, real terms (2022/23 prices)
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2015/16 2016/17
2017/18 2018/19
METROPOLITAN DISTRICTS
LONDON BOROUGHS
UNITARY AUTHORITIES
SHIRE COUNTIES AND DISTRICTS
2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24
Source: DLUHC, Final local government finance settlement: England, 2023 to 2024, 6 February 2023; ONS, Population projections – local authority based by single year of age, via Nomis; real-term figures calculated by smoothing the OBR’s GDP deflator growth forecast across the years from 2019/20 to 2021/22 to remove the distortions caused by pandemic-related factors.
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11. ‘Local government finances’, House of Commons Library, June 2023
12. ‘The state of health care and adult social care in England 2022/23’, Care Quality Commission, October 2023