The Government will need to scrap its funding reforms, significantly boost top-ups or centralise care if it is to plug the social care funding gap, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned today.
In its latest analysis, the IFS revealed revenues from council tax and business rates were ‘very unlikely’ to keep pace with the rising cost of adult social care.
The IFS report suggested there was no easy way to meet future care needs without backtracking on local government finance reforms.
Other alternatives suggested by the IFS would be to continue to top up authorities with precepts and the Better Care Fund or shift to funding from ‘more buoyant taxes’ like income tax.
A bolder move would be to passport funds directly to care services, potentially even centralising adult social care and handing it to the NHS.
Associate director of the IFS, David Phillips, said: ‘With increasing demand and costs, council tax and business rates revenues are very unlikely to be enough for councils to fund both adult social care services and the other services they are expected to provide.’
