An open letter to Steve Barclay MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Dear Mr Barclay, 

National social care funding is at crisis point. This month Islington Council, like most local authorities, has added the full Adult Social Care Precept to its council tax bills in 2023/24 to help pay for social care for our local residents. 

The last thing we want to do is pile further pressure on residents’ household budgets in the middle of a cost of living crisis – with the highest levels of inflation seen in a generation and soaring costs for essentials dragging even more people into poverty. But we don’t have a choice. 

The way adult social care is funded nationally needs a complete overhaul to put it on an even keel, but the truth is that central Government keeps passing the buck to local authorities. We are left with no choice but to add your Adult Social Care Precept to our residents’ bills. 

In 2019, the former Prime Minister promised to “fix the crisis” in social care “once and for all”. Since then, the Government has implemented an increase in National Insurance contributions but the funding crisis in social care has continued. 

The precept this year will raise around £2 million towards funding adult social care in Islington, but it’s not enough to cover rising needs and costs. While central Government looks the other way, a perfect storm is upon us, created by years of underfunding and gaining momentum and force thanks to the legacy of the Covid pandemic massively accelerating demand for care. 

Increasing vacancy rates have been compounded by peaking inflation driving up the cost of goods, agency staff and private care providers in the sector. Meanwhile, changes to hospital discharge processes have passed the cost of care on to councils at an earlier stage. While there has been some additional short-term funding for this, the knock-on effect is causing delays to treatment and longer waiting lists for the people who need our help now more than ever. This storm is already hitting the shore of every local authority in the land. 

We budget very carefully and yet the acceleration in demand means we expect costs to outstrip our adult social care budget by £3.3million this year, despite the significantly higher levels of funding from both the Government and our own resources being put in place. We must provide these services by law, so we have to find savings elsewhere to balance our budget. 

We are not alone. A recent national survey of directors of adult social services found 97 per cent were pessimistic or very pessimistic about the financial outlook for adult social care in their area – a 12 per cent rise in just three months. In addition, 90 per cent had seen a rise in the number of people leaving the social care industry due to the cost of living crisis, and 95 per cent had seen increasing numbers of care providers hike their rates in-year to cope with rising costs. In London the workforce will need to grow by 27 per cent by 2035 to keep pace with the ageing population, yet in Islington alone the latest data reveals vacancies have more than doubled year-on-year and now stand at 8.7 per cent. 

Meanwhile, the Government’s reforms to adult social care have been delayed and there is no long-term plan to deal with these significant funding pressures. The heart of the issue is the need to better fund care in the community to retain the workforce, and to better support family carers and others filling the gaps within social care. The current piecemeal approach to funding is not sustainable. 

I am urging you, as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to give us and all local authorities the money and the flexibility to weather this storm and build a cost-effective, resilient adult social care system that’s fit for the future and guarantees everyone the level of care they deserve.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Nurullah Turan

Executive Member for Health and Social Care

Islington Council