Our response to local government funding settlement 2017-18

Nigel Edwards responds to the new local government funding settlement, announced today.

Press release

Published: 15/12/2016

Commenting on the local government funding settlement, Nuffield Trust Chief Executive Nigel Edwards said:

“Today’s local government funding settlement makes a small start in addressing the funding gap in social care. We and many others said that the Autumn Statement’s failure to address this was a huge oversight, so the extra funds announcement today must be welcomed as a step in the right direction. 

In the context of the true scale of the crisis unfolding in social care, today’s announcements are relatively small. They will only amount to filling around a quarter of the £1.9 billion funding gap facing social care next year alone. The funding announced today simply pushes back the problem to later on this parliament, when no further funding has been announced.

Nigel Edwards, Chief Executive, Nuffield Trust

“But in the context of the true scale of the crisis unfolding in social care, today’s announcements are relatively small. They will only amount to filling around a quarter of the £1.9 billion funding gap facing social care next year alone. The funding announced today simply pushes back the problem to later on this parliament, when no further funding has been announced.

“With over 400,000 vulnerable older people over the last five years losing out on much-needed help to complete basic tasks like getting out of bed or getting dressed in the morning, the social care crisis is already here. Nobody wants a society where the oldest and most vulnerable are left behind, so social care must be put on a more sustainable footing.”

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