Briefings and responses

COVID-19 has brought into sharp relief the challenges facing adult social care, and in many cases exacerbated them, but it has also powerfully underlined the essential value of social care in supporting people to live the life they want to lead.

Smoking is the single largest cause of preventable death and the biggest cause of cancer worldwide. As well as impacting upon health, smoking places a significant burden on the public purse, to the tune of £12.6 billion each year.

"The extra money for social care announced in the Spring Budget 2017 was a step in the right direction. However, it is only one-off funding which reduces each year and stops at the end of 2019/20. It is not a long-term solution."

From housing to public health, social care, culture and leisure services, councils lead local services that help prevent mental ill health, support early intervention and provide ongoing support.

Suicide prevention is a priority for local government. On average 13 people in England take their lives every day, with three quarters of these suicide victims being male. Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 as well as the leading cause of death in young people.

Research commissioned by the LGA found that whilst there have been a raft of successive policies and strategies to improve mental health outcomes for children, there has been a missed opportunity to significantly ease pressure on the system by increasing the availability of preventative and early intervention support. Early intervention has been highlighted as a central aspect in many of these policies, however, this focus has not translated through to action with the system leaning towards prioritising specialist and complex treatments rather than early intervention and prevention.

This emergency has highlighted the essential value of social care and public health to the wider public and this needs to be harnessed in thinking about the future of care, support and wellbeing when we look beyond the pandemic.

Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of ill health and mortality in England. Councillors and officers recognise the harm that smoking inflicts on their communities and the importance of continuing to drive down smoking prevalence.

Over the past decade, adult social care cost pressures have increased by £8.5 billion and total funding has increased by £2.4 billion. This has meant a gap of £6.1 billion needed to be managed.

While the LGA welcomes the money to pilot new approaches and build on existing good practice, we question whether the scale of the investment matches the scale of the ambition. Any positive outcomes emanating from the pilots must be given sustainable long-term funding.