Council tax funding social care plan under fire
Council tax would need to be hiked by 10% on average next year if social care is to "stand still", according to a charity which is calling for an urgent Government cash injection.
Age UK say Chancellor Rishi Sunak's decisions in the autumn spending review will determine whether social care services "wither and die", stand still or get stronger and a rise in council tax has been mooted as a potential way to increase social care funding.
The charity is calling for Mr Sunak to give the sector the money it needs from a central pot, rather than through councils raising their taxes.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK charity director said: "Social care's problems are national, so it's not fair for ministers to try to shift the responsibility on to local areas to stump up the cash.
"Our new analysis shows that even if you make local people pay a whopping additional 10% in council tax it still won't give social care all the money it needs.
"Social care provision is too important to depend on local tax bases."
Cllr David Fothergill, the chairman of the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board, said: "Council tax increases have always been a sticking plaster solution to a complex funding problem and should not be relied upon further.”
A Government spokesman said: "We are taking action to fix the social care crisis across the country, investing an additional £5.4bn over the next three years to deliver a comprehensive programme of reforms, and introducing a new health and social care levy that will raise £12bn a year to fund the NHS and social care.”