Cambridgeshire County Council has passed a motion committing the local authority and its partners to seek an alternative from the government’s social care plan in order to “properly fund…current and future demand for vital services”.
The number of elderly people in Cambridgeshire is expected to increase by more than 30,000 - or 25 per cent - by 2033.
The motion also calls on the council’s chief executive to write to Health Secretary Sajid Javid to ask for more resources for Cambridgeshire and to call for a plan which “genuinely fixes the crisis in social care”.
The motion proposed by Cllr. Richard Howitt (pictured), chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s Adults and Health Committee, expresses the council’s “deep concern” that funding measures announced on 7 September could place a further £1m financial burden on the council.
“The government promised to fix the crisis in social care and our council says it has failed to do so and that this isn’t just a political failure, but an abject failure most of all, for those vulnerable in our society who need social care,” said Howitt.
“The ‘jam tomorrow’ promise that extra money going to the NHS now, will be transferred to social care in three years’ time, is also something which no-one believes,” he added.
“The vision of our joint administration to reform social care is one based on prevention, independence, and communities, to widen access, improve working conditions, support carers and to create a system which is truly sustainable for the next generation. This government proposal does none of that."
