Over £60m of funding will be shared across local authorities to support the improvement of care for vulnerable people, the Government has announced.

The funding is made up of three separate grants which aim to help councils better join up health and care services. In total, the grants come to £57.36m.

Local authorities will also be given a portion of a new one off £3m fund to support the introduction of new data collection.

The Local Reform and Community Voices grant will help local services champion for people who use health and social care services. It will also provide support to hospitals to assess when Liberty Protection Safeguards are needed for people who can’t make decisions about their own care.

The War and Pensions Scheme Disregard grant will support local authorities with costs associated with disregarding income from war pensions to help veterans with housing costs.

Finally, the Social Care in Prisons grant aims to support councils to meet the care and support needs of offenders residing in prisons, bail accommodation and approved premises, in their local area.

Local authorities will also be given a portion of a new one off £3m fund, for this financial year, to support the roll out of the client level data project from April 2023. This aims to improve the collection of data across the social care system.

Minister for care, Helen Whately, said: ‘People want a joined up health and social care system that meets their needs. One way to make that a reality is collecting the right social care data and joining it up with healthcare data. When it comes down to it, care data matters. That’s why we’re investing £3m to improve social care data.

‘Transforming the way we collect data will also help us see where the system needs to improve and give local authorities more information about their services compare.

‘Unlocking the potential of data is a step forwards to make sure everyone gets the care they need.’