Social care plans could be "in tatters" as figures show eight out of ten councils set to blow budget

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) warned the overspend does not provide the environment in which the new Government’s proposed National Care Service “can hope to succeed.”

Some £28.4bn was spent by councils on social care services in 2022/2023, and planned hikes on National Insurance contributions will add further strain to the sector, campaigners say.

Adass said 81 per cent of councils which responded reported being on course to overspend their adult social care budget in the current financial year, up from 72 per cent in 2023/24.

Adass’s latest report published Wednesday stated: “Unless resolved, the trend indicates that within a couple of years, all council adult social care budgets will be overspent.”

Mike Padgham, the North Yorkshire based chair of the Independent Care Group (ICG), said: “The results of the ADASS survey make grim reading for the social care sector. Councils running out of money can only result in less care being commissioned and lower prices paid for what care councils do buy.

“All of that spells clear and present danger for social care – and that is before the impact of the rise in employer’s National Insurance and increases in the National Living and Minimum wages come into force.

“Government after government have all turned a blind eye to the crisis in social care and to endless reports, like today’s from ADASS, which have warned of increasing problems.

“The Government is committed to a 10-year plan for the NHS, which includes switching from hospital to community and from sickness to prevention. That requires sufficient social care to be available, otherwise that plan will be in tatters and people who are stuck in hospital beds due to a lack of social care will be staying there.”

Adass said planned savings for the 2025/26 financial year are estimated to have risen to £1.4 billion from just over £900 million.

The report warned: “In this context, it will be even harder for councils to make the investment needed in workforce, prevention and unpaid carers, all of which are crucial to improving health and social care in the longer-term.”

Barnsley Council leader Sir Steve Houghton, Chair of the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities, said: “The budget contained £600m of additional funding for social care, but with demand at record levels, significant increases in the National Living Wage and costs passed on by the increase in the employer national insurance contributions, this increase will not mean the sector is properly funded.

"We ask the government to increase funding and ensure that all new funding is going to places of the highest need.”

The Government has been contacted for comment.