Warning increases in social care funding in Northumberland do not 'touch the sides'

The Government recently announced an additional £500million of new funding to deliver social care, with Northumberland set to receive £2.92million. The cash will be distributed via the Social Care Grant, which is ring-fenced for adult and children’s social care.

It follows on from £1billion in funding announced by the Government in Autumn 2022 and July 2023. The news brought questions for the county council on its adult social care precept, which looks set to rise by 2% in the coming financial year.

Speaking at an all-member scrutiny meeting looking the council’s draft budget proposals on Monday, Coun Malcolm Robinson questioned whether the precept would be scrapped.

Coun Robinson said: “The £2.92million is about what we raise on the social care precept? Are we not going to have a social care precept, or are we going to have improved services?”

Liberal Democrat leader Jeff Reid also raised the issue. He pointed out the council had saved around £3million from the adult social care budget in the current financial year by reviewing individual packages of care, and was aiming to do so again in the upcoming budget.

He said: “Can somebody explain to me how we can take out £3million a year for three years, yet we’re also putting the adult social care precept up? We have saved all this money, why we need to keep banging up the budget?”

The council’s finance chief, Jan Willis, said there was “increasing demand and increasing costs” for the adult social care department. She added: “The adult social care precept and the money from Government is nowhere near matching the amount of additional funding we need to find. It doesn’t touch the sides

“This report does not reflect any impact of the announcement of additional social care funding that was announced last week. We won’t know our share until the final local government settlement.

“This is based on the settlement that we had back in December, but we are expecting more funding. As to whether we will not have a precept, that is still to be decided – but my advice is that we maintain our tax base.”