Bucks Council calls 'insufficient' adult social care funding a 'disgrace'

Adult social care services help working age adults live independently, including people with disabilities and covers support such as washing, dressing and helping people get out of bed.

Demand and costs for these services are rising nationally, with Bucks Council’s net adult social care budget ballooning to £197 million this year – nearly 40 per cent of its overall revenue budget.

Ahead of the next budget, which will be finalised in February, councillors passed a motion this week condemning the ‘failure’ of successive governments to tackle the ongoing ‘crisis in adult social care’.

It read: “The ongoing neglect of adult social care by all political parties is a national disgrace with massive consequences at a local level for everyone as local government funding is increasingly drawn away from other public services.”

The motion, which received cross-party support, was tabled by Independent Cllrs Stuart Wilson and Alison Wheelhouse, before being amended by Conservative council leader Martin Tett and his deputy Angela Macpherson at a meeting on Wednesday night.

It warned the new Labour government’s National Insurance hike and rise in National Living wage from April would ‘drive up costs significantly for adult social care’ administered by private providers.

The motion also said an extra £600 million grant funding for social care was just 1.5 per cent of the estimated £38.6 billion councils had budgeted for both adults’ and children’s social care in 2024-25.