The County Councils Network (CCN) has called on the Government to rethink its approach to distributing local authority funding next year.
The Treasury’s proposed method of dividing £1.3bn of new funding would see £600m allocated via the social care grant and £700m set aside for a ‘targeted deprivation-based approach’.
But the CCN said this would see its members lose out on millions of pounds for care services compared to the last two local government settlements, when the ‘vast majority’ of new grant funding was allocated via the social care grant.
Analysis found that the method could see CCN member councils’ allocation reduce by a third – almost £190m – compared to distributing the entire £1.3bn via the social care grant.
CCN chairman Tim Oliver said that ‘while deprivation is an important indicator of need, it is not the main driver of councils’ unstainable rise in costs, nor the key measure of who is under the most financial distress’.
The organisation urged the Government to increase the amount dedicated to the social care grant and divert additional funding from the NHS to social care to help pay for the national living wage increase and employers’ national insurance rise.
