Social care needs to be funded by government, 'not by massively hiking council tax'

Social care in England needs an urgent injection of funding from the government, says Age UK, not a hike in council tax which will lead to hugely inflated council tax bills in some areas and a postcode lottery of care.

Consistent media reports seem to indicate that a rise in council tax is the Chancellor’s chosen mechanism for increasing funding for social care.

However Age UK warns that even if council tax increases by 10 per cent next year this will only keep social care at a "stand still".

The Treasury's Spending Review is due to be announced on 27 October and the government has said that short and medium term funding for social care will be included.

Age UK said: "It would be hard to exaggerate how important the decisions Mr Sunak makes are to the future of social care services and the lives of the millions of older and disabled people who depend on them."

The charity is urging the government to give local authorities the extra funding from central government funds rather than raising council tax and will be looking to Rishi Sunak's decisions to determine whether social care services will continue to “wither and die,” to “stand still” or, “get stronger" over the next three years.

Age UK argues the 10 per cent increase would only raise £3.3 billion and say the starting point to meet demographic changes and increases in the National Living Wage would need to be £3.9bn by 2023–24.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance said: “Social care funding should come from central government, not by massively hiking council tax. Social care’s problems are national, so it’s not fair for ministers to try to shift the responsibility onto local areas to stump up the cash.”

The charity warns this increase could see an average ‘band d’ household in England paying up to £180 more a year in council tax which means increases in the richest ten councils could generate 45 per cent more per person than in the poorest tenth, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Ms Abrahams said: “If you make local people pay a whopping additional 10 per cent in council tax, it still won’t give social care all the money it needs, and meanwhile this intensifies the postcode lottery which means older people have much more chance of getting a decent care service in some places, compared to others.”

'Rishi Sunak could be a hero or a villain come Spending Review day'

The charity is concerned the government intention is to raise the ceiling on how high local authorities can set their ‘social care precept’, or local tax, without the need to call a local referendum in order to gain public approval for the measure.

Ms Abrahams added: "The stakes could not be higher: his decisions will determine whether social care services continue to wither and die, just about stand still or, more optimistically, get stronger over the next three years.

“We are looking to [the chancellor] to do the right thing by supporting these vital services on which so many older people depend. The truth is that when it comes to social care Rishi Sunak could be a hero or a villain come Spending Review day.”

’Increasing council tax to pay for social care is a double whammy for hard-pressed residents’

The Local Government Association’s (LGA’s) Community Wellbeing Board say that council tax increases have always been a “sticking plaster solution” to a “complex funding problem” and should not be relied upon.

Chairman of the LGA, Cllr David Fothergill said: “Social care was facing an uncertain future even before the pandemic, which has exposed and exacerbated some fundamental weaknesses in how we continue to pay for and provide care and support.

“Increasing council tax to pay for social care is a double whammy for hard-pressed residents, who may feel they are shelling out twice for a service now that the Health and Social Care Levy is being introduced.

“The government’s social care plan has some potential promise on how care is paid for and the contributions people themselves make, but the Spending Review should provide upfront, desperately needed new funding to meet immediate demands and pressures in our care system, so that people can live the lives they want to lead.”