Government figures claiming councils can raise £1bn through the social care precept are massively inflated from the sector’s calculations, it has emerged.

Communities minister Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth has told Parliament that if all councils ‘make the maximum use of the additional flexibility the Government has offered this will raise over £1bn for adult social care in 2017/18’.

However, according to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy the adult social care precept could only raise a ‘total possible amount of £624m’ for English councils in 2017/18 – way short of the amount quoted by Lord Bourne.

Even the DCLG's own statistical release confirmed last month that the figure raised through the adult social care precept in 2017/18 would be £552m.

For more on this story visit The MJ (£).