London councillor cries out for extra social care funding

To ensure adult social care is ‘fit for the future’ a Senior Islington Politician has called on the government to provide local authorities with extra money.

Earlier this year, Islington Council – an authority that governs an area in London – announced a 4.99% council tax rise in a bid to meet the rising cost of adult social care.

Amidst struggling, Cllr Nurullah Turan, the council’s Executive member for Health and Social Care took matters further within the same week the spring budget was being delivered in which he penned an open letter to the government warning that ‘national social care funding is at crisis point.’

The council chose to add the full 2% Adult Social Care Precept onto its council tax bills for the 2023-24 financial year.

However, in his letter to Steve Barclay, the Health Minister, Cllr Turan said this was the last thing the local authority wanted amid the rising cost-of-living.

The amount council tax will rise for people in Islington will equate to £2m to help fund health and social care services, but the council still excepts costs to outstrip the current adult social care budget by £3.3m.

Cllr Truan said: ‘We must provide these services by law, so we have to find savings elsewhere to balance our budget.’

However it isn’t just social care within areas surrounding London that are facing immense financial pressures. Research from Care England said that adult social care is ‘on the precipice’.

A survey conducted among adult social care workers during December and January found that: ‘In 2022, 82% of adult social care providers were either in deficit or experienced a decrease in their surplus.

‘Of those who reported a decline in their surplus, almost half reported that it would turn into a deficit within two years.’

Image: Call Me Fred