The LGA has pledged to “keep lobbying” for additional funding for adult social care, after the sector was largely ignored in the Autumn Statement.
Alongside the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), it continues to warn that councils face tough decisions around maintaining care and support services as financial pressures demand further savings from adult social care.
The ADASS autumn survey found that nearly a quarter of a million people in England were waiting to have their care needs assessed by the end of the summer, and that almost a third of directors had been asked to make savings collectively totalling £83.7 million for the year.
The organisations said those savings come in addition to the £806 million in savings that directors across England had already committed to make in their budgets this year.
The survey’s findings come amid a challenging environment of high inflation, increasing demand for services and complexity of need, workforce challenges, and a “welcome, but costly” rise in the National Living Wage.
An LGA spokesperson said: “While the investment made in the Autumn Statement 2022 was very welcome, we urged the Government not to think that care and support is now ‘fixed’.
“The absence of new funding, and the near total absence of any commentary on adult social care, might suggest the Government considers that pressures are resolved, and the sector has what it needs. This is patently not the case.
“People who draw on care and support will be understandably worried about the continuing impact of significant pressures on the service.”