County councils have welcomed reports that the Government is to delay social care reforms by at least a year.
The Times claims that the flagship reforms, including a £86,000 cap on costs, will be postponed as part of Treasury efforts to reduce spending.
The County Councils Network (CCN) has backed the move, and said that the reforms would have been ‘impossible’ to implement amid a cost of living crisis, and pressing ahead would have ‘run the risk of them falling at the first hurdle’.
However, it has urged the new chancellor Jeremy Hunt not to cut the funding committed next year, but to ‘reprioritise’ it to ease the financial burdens facing councils.
CCN’s spokesperson for Adult Social Care, Martin Tett, said without the funding to prepare for the reforms, ‘we will be back to square one in 12 months’ time’.
He added: ‘With local authorities facing severe workforce and inflation-fuelled financial pressures, they would be impossible to implement in the timescales without making services worse and leading to longer waits for a care package for people on day one of their introduction.
‘Councils need time to plan and prepare, expand our workforce, and ensure that the new financial burdens facing care services are properly costed.’
This article was originally published by The MJ (£).
