Urgent action needed to tackle care crisis
LGA media release 12 October 2012
Cllr David Rogers, Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board, said:
"The last thing councils want is for care homes to go out of business because they need places where older residents can be well cared for. Local authorities go out of their way to support good care homes by offering more frequent payments, block bookings and premium payments to those with the best standards.
"Providers of residential care across the country have this year received an average increase of two per cent, which is more than double the average increase in fees to other providers. This increase is despite local authorities facing bigger cuts than any other part of the public sector, council tax freezes in most town halls and the long-term pressures of insufficient funding, growing demand and escalating costs.
"There is no one-size-fits-all approach to providing residential care. Different councils face very different pressures in adult social care and decisions need to be taken locally to ensure councils get the best deal from care homes for the people they are charged with looking after.
"Reforming how we provide care is the most important issue this country is facing. All too soon we are going to be faced with a funding crisis that we are no longer going to be able to tackle. The challenge of reforming adult social care is set to fall off a cliff edge and politicians need to act now or risk severely impacting on the services councils can provide for generations to come."
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Author: LGA Media Office
Contact: Cherie Willers, Local Government Association Media Office, Telephone: 020 7664 3333
24 October 2012
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