Plymouth social care funding under threat

Service being "smashed apart" claims council leader

The leader of the Labour-run Plymouth City Council says raising council tax to its maximum in the city will not pay for social care which he claims is being “smashed apart” by the government.

Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) has criticised the government’s proposed 6.5 per cent funding rise for councils which he says will go nowhere near addressing the problems local government is facing following years of underfunding and demand in the adult social care sector and children’s services.

“The increase is in fact a decrease when you take inflation into account and it’s the poor old local taxpayer once again who is being asked to put their hands in their pockets and make up the difference,” he said.

“The sad fact is this settlement is so low that that won’t make up the difference, some of it but not all.”

Housing secretary Michael Gove announced the provisional £64 billion finance settlement for councils on Monday which he says is an increase of £4 billion compared with last year and recognises the challenges councils face.

Local authorities are able to increase their spending power by raising council tax by three per cent without a local referendum. In Plymouth, where 85 per cent of households are in lower band properties, that equates to an extra £4 million which Mr Evans said doesn’t even meet the cost of national minimum wage rises for city council staff.

“By doing this we are also being forced into making ourselves unpopular with local residents,” he said.

And he added the council still needed to make savings of £2.3 million on top of the £8 million already cut this year in order to balance the books.

A reductions in the revenue support grant from the government of £123 million to £11 million since 2010 and a £2 million cut in the ‘services grant’ in two years was making it harder to pay for everything, he said.

“We would have liked to have some recognition that adult social care and children’s social care  is in desperate trouble,” said Cllr Evans. “Most top tier councils and unitary authorities are in a situation where the only services they are keeping going are the statutory ones and in our case we have 300 other services to provide.

“Councils have been defunded for 13 years on the bounce. The sum of money announced this week is pitiful.

“The government doesn’t care about local government, but they need to because we provide vital elements of the health and social care in this country. Adult social care is being smashed apart. We need to look after people.”

Cllr Evans said the authority would be looking at more partnerships and creative ways of providing services but added: “There is only so much innovation you can do.”

He said Plymouth City Council was not in danger of issuing a 114 (bankruptcy) notice this year and would be able to balance the books even though things were “incredibly tight”.

One in five councils have said they may have to issue a 114 notice in the next two years.