MPs call for £1.5bn to plug gap in adult social care funding

MPs have called on the chancellor of the exchequer to pledge an extra £1.5bn (€1.7bn; $1.8bn) for adult social care in England when he unveils the budget on Wednesday 8 March.

In an interim report on adult social care, the select committee on communities and local government warned that adult social care needed immediate extra funding, because it faced a shortfall of between £1.3bn and £1.9bn over the 2017-18 financial year.1 MPs are calling on the chancellor, Philip Hammond, to use the 2019-20 tranche of the Better Care Fund to plug the funding gap.

The report’s authors said that since 2010, when adult social care budgets were cut, councils across England had made efficiencies and savings, “but we do not believe this is sustainable and agree that councils have moved from doing ‘more for less’ to ‘less for less.’” The report added, “There is evidence that …