Driving forward quality care in the not-for-profit sector
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
6th November 2024
The National Care Forum (NCF) – the leading association for not-for-profit social care has responded to the publication of the ADASS Autumn Survey.
The survey findings show:
• Adult social care financial pressures are intensifying, meaning that councils continue to face significant challenges in delivering their statutory obligations to people accessing care and support and carers while maintaining balanced budgets
• More councils are being required to make savings, despite growing levels and complexity of need and escalating costs
• To achieve the Government’s goal of shifting health and social care from “sickness to prevention,” investment is needed to ease council pressures that currently limit spending to only those with the highest needs
• The social care workforce is key to making community-based health and social care a reality
• The next policy cycle of the Better Care Fund should be used to reorient funding towards prevention and ensuring the right care is delivered at the right time and right place. Access to better and more joined up health and social care data can transform our understanding of people’s needs and the support that suits them best Vic Rayner OBE, CEO of NCF said: “The findings in this survey sadly tell us exactly what we already know. Currently, 81% of councils expect to overspend their adult social care budgets this year—up from 72% in 2023/24—with an estimated total overspend of £564 million. This pressure felt by councils will be compounded from April by increases to Employer National Insurance Contributions and the National Living Wage. These are both taking place in the context of limited funding for adult social care in last week’s Budget, which does little to recognise the vital role that social care plays in the lives of millions of people up and down the country. “We urge government to heed this warning cry from local councils and the joint voices that are calling for immediate, substantial investment in these vital social care services.
The ADASS survey results highlight the dangerous position councils, and the communities they serve, are facing. The £600m allocated in the Budget to local government for social care pressures will simply not cover the cost of increased costs to employers from National Insurance and National Living Wage increases, let alone the wider stabilisation measures that are urgently needed. “Ahead of the local government settlement, we urge government to think seriously about the wide-ranging ramifications that will be felt throughout communities up and down the country if adequate funding is not made available to local councils to support care and support providers in delivering these vital public services to people who need them.”
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Note to Editors:
• The National Care Forum brings together more than 170 of the UK’s leading social care organisations, representing large numbers of care providers, offering thousands of services across the country, which are not for profit and always at the heart of community provision. Collectively, these organisations deliver more than £2.3 billion of social care and support to more than 277,000 people. The NCF membership body collectively employs more than 124,000 staff and 14,000 volunteers.
• More information is available on the National Care Forum at www.nationalcareforum.org.uk. @NCFCareForum @vicrayner @NCF_Liz
• For enquiries, please contact Victoria [email protected]
