LGA responds to details of social care Green Paper

“Government should first make a down-payment on the green paper by injecting additional resources into the system to fund immediate funding pressures which are set to exceed £2 billion by 2020. This will enable the system to stay afloat until such time as the green paper reforms bring in new resources.”

View allAdult social care articles

Responding to the key principles of the green paper on care and support for older people, announced today by the Health and Social Care Secretary, Lord Porter, Chairman of the Local Government Association, said:

“We are pleased to see the Government’s latest detail on how it intends to make adult social care fit for the future, which is one of our most pressing public priorities.

“The ‘seven pillars’ of the green paper reflect what we have long–called for, however, government should resist the temptation for major system reform.

“Councils know what good looks like and, in the Care Act, the sector has legislation that enjoys widespread support and sets out a vision we all aspire to – particularly the emphasis on prevention to help reduce or delay people developing care and support needs. What is missing is the funding to turn that vision into reality.

“While integration is an essential agenda that local government is committed to in order to achieve better health and wellbeing outcomes for people, appropriate funding must be the overriding priority for the green paper and we hope its broad scope will not detract from this focus.

“Government should first make a down-payment on the green paper by injecting additional resources into the system to fund immediate funding pressures which are set to exceed £2 billion by 2020. This will enable the system to stay afloat until such time as the green paper reforms bring in new resources.”