A £37m allocation of government cash to join up health and social care services has been branded a ‘drop in the ocean’ by council leaders.

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has this week released £12m of ring-fenced cash to 87 councils to help local services tackle delays in hospital discharges and reduce the number of people admitted. This came on top of £25m handed to local authorities this month by the Department of Health to help speed up the discharge system.

However the Local Government Association (LGA) today questioned why social care services were receiving an unequal level of funding in comparison to the £700m awarded to the NHS to deal with winter pressures in December’s Autumn Statement.

Yet Local government secretary Eric Pickles said introduction in April of a £5.3bn Better Care Fund would ‘transform’ working between the NHS and local authorities, prevent up to 160,000 A&E admissions and save over £500m in the year ahead.

Local government secretary Eric Pickles said: ‘Social services have to be part of the solution to the high demand on hospitals at the moment. We know that they can help by getting people home more quickly when it is safe to do so once they have been discharged. And we also know that the best social care can prevent some people from having to go to A&E in the first place by supporting the elderly to live with dignity and independence at home.’

An LGA spokesman said: ‘While this extra money will go some way to plugging the funding gaps adult social care departments are facing it doesn’t nearly go far enough. December’s Autumn Statement provided £700m for the NHS to help deal with winter pressures, yet social care is still only getting a disparate amount of £37m – a mere drop in the ocean compared to other ongoing cost pressures the system is facing.

‘It’s not enough for consecutive governments to keep plastering over the cracks with short term fixes. Recent events have demonstrated the pressures facing the whole social care and health system. We urgently need a longer term solution that puts social care on a sustainable footing. Failure to do so could mean that the hospital crises we have seen will be a regular feature on our winter calendar.’