The Housing, Communities and Local Government select committee (HCLGC) has launched an inquiry to investigate how Covid-19 has impacted the adult social care sector and its long-term funding needs following the pandemic.
The ‘Long term funding of adult social care’ inquiry will also examine how additional funds can be raised to ensure the long-term stability of the sector and how the social care market can supported to improve innovation.
“The challenge of finding a long-term solution to the financial pressures on the adult social care system is one of the toughest questions we will have to face in the coming years. We have seen year on year the demand on services increasing, while local authority budgets have been stretched more and more,” said HCLGC chairman Clive Betts MP (pictured).
“The government has attempted to address this spasmodically with one-off pots of funding for the most critical needs, but it is clear the we must have a solution that provides a financial plan for decades, not just months. Unless the funding of social care is resolved there will continue to be more cuts to other council services and this is simply not sustainable,” he added.
HCLGC carried out a joint inquiry with the health and social care committee on the long-term funding of adult social care in 2018.
It called for the establishment of a parliamentary commission to develop a long-term funding solution for adult social care based on political consensus and public engagement, covering housing as well as health and social care services.
The inquiry also recommended additional funding be raised through council tax reform, a new ring-fenced social care premium for the over-40s or increases to inheritance tax above a certain threshold.
The deadline for submissions to the new inquiry is 15 April.
