The Green party have urged the Government to fund Adult Social Care properly and have said that “extra funding” announced by the Government for social care last month is a case of smoke and mirrors. They accuse the Government of reallocating or retiming existing funding pots, including taking money from the New Homes Bonus, to look like additional cash for social care.
Greens are instead supporting a call by Unison to use £2.4 billion in unallocated business rates collected from local government to provide real additional funding for social care.
Molly Scott Cato, Green MEP for the South West said:
“The Government is engaging in a cruel con game where local councils are shown new funding for desperately needed social care with one hand, only to find much needed funding taken away from somewhere else with the other hand”.
“The Government must stop playing games with people’s lives and develop a truly sustainable funding plan for Adult Social Care. They should consider the idea put forward by Unison to plough back unallocated business rates into the communities in which rates were collected, so they can use this money to support social care provision”.
“Adult social care is at a critical stage and needs a substantive injection of funding in order to combat the serious spending pressures faced by local authorities such as Gloucestershire. The Government needs to listen to those working at the coalface, such as our local councils and unions, and act decisively”.
This comes at a time where elderly people going without care, paying for it themselves and relying on friends and family, outstrips those getting council help by 4:1.
Lack of available social care is also a major factor in the current dangerous overloading in hospitals, as it becomes increasingly difficult to promptly discharge patients who are no longer medically in need, but who have social care needs; resulting in beds being unavailable for those in urgent medical need.