Reading councillor fury over Tory adult social care reforms

Adult social care covers helping the elderly and those with physical and mental disabilities to live, whether it be providing nursing care, home adjustments or a range of different treatments and services.

These services are provided through councils, which receive funding for the care both through the government and council taxes.

The government is in the process of reforming how much adult social care ‘costs’ in an effort to address the disparity between the rates paid by people who ‘self-fund’ their care and those who have their commissioned by councils.

The government is seeking to address this ‘unfairness’ by reform and creating a system where care costs are comparable, no matter whether the care is funded by the council or directly by the person funding their own care.

READ MORE: Reading Labour and Conservatives clash over top rate of tax u-turn

To aid councils with the reforms, the government has set up the Fair Cost of Care and Market Sustainability Fund.

This financial year, Reading Borough Council has received £384,000 from the fund.

Of that, 25 per cent (approximately £96,000) can be spent on implementation.

However, there was no indication as to how much the council will receive in coming years.

Expressing concerns about the long term future, John Ennis, the lead councillor for adult social care, spoke of “a lost 12 years in adult social care”.

Cllr Ennis (Labour, Southcote) said: “I believe, and we’ve heard this on many occasions, we’re living through an adult social care scandal, to be frank.

“What we’ve had previously and what we’re getting now is false promise after false promise on the NHS and adult social care.

“Many people, huge numbers of people, will still have to sell their homes to pay for care for their loved ones.

“It’s politics but it’s reality for many many families, that they will struggle to be funding proper care for their loved ones.”

ohn Ennis, lead councillor for adult social care (Labour, Southcote). Credit: Reading Labour

While he acknowledged that he is partisan, he referred to a letter from councillors of various political parties by the Local Government Association (LGA) which also expressed concerns about adult social care funding.

Cllr Ennis said: “98 per cent of councils responding to the LGA survey do not have confidence that the funding earmarked for reforms is sufficient.”

He then referred to discussions with other members of the LGA expressing concern about what impact a new cap could have on the amount anyone in England will have to pay for personal care throughout their lifetime, with the cap being set at  £86,000.

Cllr Ennis said: “The £86,000 financial cap, with no financial support for local authorities, would see a creaking adult social care system tipped over the edge.”

Later, he said: “Ultimately, the only way forward is for a general election now and an end to this Tory government.

“That ultimately will be the only way we can see decent funding for the health service and adult social care.”

READ MORE: Calls for new general election from more than 1000 Reading voters 

He made his remarks  at a Reading Borough Council policy committee meeting on Wednesday, September 21.

The committee unanimously agreed to delegate power to the council’s executive director of adult social care to use the £384,000 to prepare for the reforms.

Defending the reforms, a government spokesperson said: “The Health and Social Care Secretary is focused on delivering for patients and has set out her four priorities of A, B, C, D – ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists.

“The government is committed to reforming adult social care and our People at the Heart of Care white paper sets out a 10-year vision, backed by £5.4 billion of funding over three years.”