Ministers consider council tax rise to cover social care funding

Local authorities could be allowed to make a further increase in council tax to pay for social care.

Ministers in England are discussing ways to invest more money into care services for the elderly and disabled.

Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb called for a cross-party commission on social care to ask the public how much they are prepared to fund the service.

“If you keep sleepwalking towards the edge of the precipice, real people will suffer,” Mr Lamb said.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid will unveil spending plans on Thursday.

One option is to let them increase council tax beyond the extra 2% for which they already have permission, while another is bringing forward extra money they have been promised in 2019.

This comes as fewer people are getting help from local authorities.

Older people’s services – representing the bulk of care – have been particularly badly hit.

Spending has fallen by 9% in real terms over the past five years with local government blaming cuts to their funding from central government.

The result has been an even larger drop – of over a quarter – in the numbers getting help in care homes, nursing homes and in their own homes for daily tasks such as washing and dressing. (BBC)