Budget 2017: Chancellor must not miss another chance to tackle crisis in social care

Nuffield Trust Chief Economist reiterates our position on social care funding ahead of 2017 Spring budget.

Press release

Published: 07/03/2017

In November 2016, the Nuffield Trust argued in a briefing paper issued jointly with The King’s Fund and Health Foundation in advance of the Autumn Statement:

“The urgent priority for the Autumn Statement is to address the critical state of social care.  Our research has found that the system is increasingly struggling to meet the needs of older people, their families and carers, and the human and financial costs of this are mounting.  The publicly-funded social care system faces the prospect of a £1.9bn funding gap next year.  As a minimum, the government must recognise the immediate funding pressures facing the sector by bringing forward to next year the additional funding that will be provided by the Better Care Fund – planned to reach £1.5 billion in 2019/20.  Beyond this, it is obvious the social care system needs fundamental reform - this will not be quick or easy and will require cross-party consensus”.

Prof John Appleby, Nuffield Trust Chief Economist and Director Research, said today:

“The Chancellor ignored our call before the Autumn Statement both to bring forward the extra money from the Better Care Fund, and for the social care system to be fundamentally reformed.  Almost nothing has changed since November, except that the funding gap in adult social care has now increased to around £2bn.  This time round, the Government must not miss another chance to address the mounting crisis in social care”.

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