The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services
(ADASS) released a report yesterday. It warned of a possible £1.1bn cuts to
adult social services and the effect this may have on the ‘most vulnerable.’
Now, as with most of these ‘cuts’ stories, the long and short of it was thus: ‘Tories
take away the monies, the councils can’t cope, people suffer.’ Just your average
welfare slashing scandal. Well, I’m not sure there isn’t a little more to this
one.
Whereas on prior occasion when faced with the accusation
that welfare cuts is an ideological plight, the Conservative Party could
attribute their policy ideals to a combative approach to getting the deficit
down, or maintaining that ever so important ‘long term economic plan.’ After
all ‘Call me Dave’ did agree to ring-fence NHS spending and has been trying his
level best to rebrand his party as the compassionate ‘One Nation Conservatives.’
Until now the cuts haven’t threatened the most vulnerable, at least not in an
overt way that could not in some way be attributed to the necessary evil of
getting us ‘back on track’ regarding the economy. This time the fair minded
public won’t swallow the argument that cruel cuts are a necessity, especially
if those enacting them don’t feel the pain.
According to the ADASS report Local Authorities have had a
real terms cut of 40% to their budgets over the last few years due to a
drawback in central government grants and a need to keep income and corporation
tax low. Councils have cut their Adult and Social Care budgets by 4.6bn since 2010
in order to make so called ‘efficiency savings,’ and reports of elderly bed blockers
are filling column inches and Hospitals alike, which according to ADASS are two
thirds full of the aged already.
Enter stage left: The ‘Better Care Fund.’ This is ‘Call me
Dave’s attempt at less directionless caregiving, which was the, albeit
unintended consequence of Andrew Landsley’s NHS reforms. The pool of money
offered to Local Authorities totals 5.3bn to implement the Care Act 2014 and
this legislation compels local councils to provide a range of Adult Social Care
services to those who cannot afford them and subsidise others. The 2014 ‘state
of the nation report’ commissioned by ADASS highlighted the implementation of
the Care Act reforms as a major cause for concern for most Local Authorities
and when politicians were surveyed, of the sample, not a soul said they were ‘very
confident’ in their ability to enact the reforms of the Care Act in 2015/16.
So, as Conservative MP’s throw around the ‘Better Care Fund,’ as a way of
suggesting that pressures on local authority health budgets will be alleviated,
this is beginning to sound like a falsehood.
If the pressures on overall health spending are not alleviated
somewhat by the ‘Better Care Fund’ which is a specific grant given to
authorities only to be spent on Social Care services, then will the joining of
the Health and Social Care budgets combat this projected £1.1bn shortfall that
ADASS proclaim is coming for Adult Social Care. The Government rebutted the £1.1bn
figure obviously, saying that it ignored the extra £10bn it has vowed to inject
into the NHS between now and 2020, and that the NHS’ future cohesiveness means
that this would contribute someway to alleviating any dooming forecasts made by
ADASS. However, with an overall funding gap of nearly £5bn in Adult Social Care
between now and 2020, I’m not sure joining up these budgets will help. This deficit
would inevitably eat into the health budget, redistributing concern to other
areas of health provision and the £16bn of efficiency savings that the NHS has
agreed to, would be rendered unachievable overnight. It is most likely unachievable
already but it would certainly be so if overburdened by Adult Social Care and
indeed other services.
Quite frankly these numbers, a billion here, ten billion
there, would be rendered meaningless if Health and Social Care budgets come
together. The budgetary landscape would be altered. But they do illustrate something.
The current government is reluctant spend money on the public’s health no
matter how bad things get. Allowing budgets like Adult and Social Care to fall
to ridiculously perilous levels before squashing it together with a supposedly ring-fenced
health budget, shows how this supposed ‘One Nation’ conservatism will leave
those who cannot pay for their care behind.