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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/02/social-care-sway-local-elections-not-windrush-antisemitism
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| Social care should sway the local elections – not Windrush or antisemitism | Social care should sway the local elections – not Windrush or antisemitism |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| When voters go to the polls in the English local elections on Thursday, many will be swayed by national issues such as the Windrush scandal and Labour’s problems with antisemitism. It is a perennial frustration to local politicians that they risk getting booted out of the town hall on such considerations, regardless of how well they have served their community. | When voters go to the polls in the English local elections on Thursday, many will be swayed by national issues such as the Windrush scandal and Labour’s problems with antisemitism. It is a perennial frustration to local politicians that they risk getting booted out of the town hall on such considerations, regardless of how well they have served their community. |
| Even when local concerns are a factor, they tend to be the usual hobby horses of bin collections, potholes or street sweeping. The biggest issue facing local government, now accounting for 53% of all spending by the 152 councils responsible for providing it, rarely gets a mention. This week’s elections should really be seen as the social care elections. | Even when local concerns are a factor, they tend to be the usual hobby horses of bin collections, potholes or street sweeping. The biggest issue facing local government, now accounting for 53% of all spending by the 152 councils responsible for providing it, rarely gets a mention. This week’s elections should really be seen as the social care elections. |
| What we need is a national social care service | Anne Perkins | What we need is a national social care service | Anne Perkins |
| It is now six years since Barnet council’s “graph of doom” projected a future in which the north London borough, and authorities like it, would have no money for anything except statutory adult social care and children’s services. Without radical change, the pincer effect of austerity and increasing demand under those two budgets would bring about doomsday by the early 2020s. | It is now six years since Barnet council’s “graph of doom” projected a future in which the north London borough, and authorities like it, would have no money for anything except statutory adult social care and children’s services. Without radical change, the pincer effect of austerity and increasing demand under those two budgets would bring about doomsday by the early 2020s. |
| While the graph was never intended to be taken too literally, it is proving alarmingly prescient. Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, the National Audit Office says, English councils cut planning and development by 53%, highways and transport by 37%, cultural services by 35%, and environmental and regulatory services by 17%. | While the graph was never intended to be taken too literally, it is proving alarmingly prescient. Between 2010-11 and 2016-17, the National Audit Office says, English councils cut planning and development by 53%, highways and transport by 37%, cultural services by 35%, and environmental and regulatory services by 17%. |
| Even adult social care itself took a hit of 3%. Children’s services was the only budget to show growth, of slightly more than 3%. But as repeated cuts in government grant slashed councils’ spending power by more than 28% in real terms. Adult and children’s social care have absorbed a rising share of a shrinking pot. Grant cuts – which the NAO says by 2019-20 will amount to a 56% reduction on 2010-11 – have given rise to a second phenomenon: social care is not only increasingly what councils do, it is also increasingly funded through council tax. | Even adult social care itself took a hit of 3%. Children’s services was the only budget to show growth, of slightly more than 3%. But as repeated cuts in government grant slashed councils’ spending power by more than 28% in real terms. Adult and children’s social care have absorbed a rising share of a shrinking pot. Grant cuts – which the NAO says by 2019-20 will amount to a 56% reduction on 2010-11 – have given rise to a second phenomenon: social care is not only increasingly what councils do, it is also increasingly funded through council tax. |
| English local authorities now depend on council tax for 60% of their income – in 2012, that figure was 41%. Since 2015, all councils responsible for providing social care have been allowed to levy an extra tax precept to pay for it. This year, almost all have done so, making the average total council tax rise just over 5% – almost twice both the rate of inflation and growth in earnings. | English local authorities now depend on council tax for 60% of their income – in 2012, that figure was 41%. Since 2015, all councils responsible for providing social care have been allowed to levy an extra tax precept to pay for it. This year, almost all have done so, making the average total council tax rise just over 5% – almost twice both the rate of inflation and growth in earnings. |
| The wonder is there hasn’t been more protest. Perhaps people haven’t understood or perhaps there is more public support for paying an earmarked tax for social care than is commonly supposed. But it can’t go on: half of all councils will be unable to levy the social care precept next year because they are already at the 6% cumulative limit imposed by ministers for the three years from 2017 to 2020. | The wonder is there hasn’t been more protest. Perhaps people haven’t understood or perhaps there is more public support for paying an earmarked tax for social care than is commonly supposed. But it can’t go on: half of all councils will be unable to levy the social care precept next year because they are already at the 6% cumulative limit imposed by ministers for the three years from 2017 to 2020. |
| So concrete proposals in this summer’s green paper on funding older people’s care are vital. Long-term reform will take years to agree and implement. We need an interim solution that turns the Whitehall cash tap on again – preferably as part of the 10-year settlement for the NHS that Theresa May has promised. | So concrete proposals in this summer’s green paper on funding older people’s care are vital. Long-term reform will take years to agree and implement. We need an interim solution that turns the Whitehall cash tap on again – preferably as part of the 10-year settlement for the NHS that Theresa May has promised. |
| As viewers of the superb BBC documentary series Hospital saw last week, when a beds gridlock in Nottingham in January was broken only by the NHS buying 120 places in local care homes, to which patients were transferred even if they were waiting to go home with a social care package, the system gets by on short-term fixes. This has to stop. | As viewers of the superb BBC documentary series Hospital saw last week, when a beds gridlock in Nottingham in January was broken only by the NHS buying 120 places in local care homes, to which patients were transferred even if they were waiting to go home with a social care package, the system gets by on short-term fixes. This has to stop. |
| Helen Jones, Nottingham council’s director of adult social services, told the cameras it was the toughest she had ever known it: for the first time in her career it was hard to see the future; and her fear was that in 12 months’ time things could be even worse. “The danger is, this is just being accepted as the norm – and that frightens me,” she said. It should frighten us all. | Helen Jones, Nottingham council’s director of adult social services, told the cameras it was the toughest she had ever known it: for the first time in her career it was hard to see the future; and her fear was that in 12 months’ time things could be even worse. “The danger is, this is just being accepted as the norm – and that frightens me,” she said. It should frighten us all. |
| • David Brindle is the Guardian’s public services editor | • David Brindle is the Guardian’s public services editor |
| Social care | Social care |
| Local government | Local government |
| Public sector cuts | Public sector cuts |
| Public finance | Public finance |
| Public services policy | Public services policy |
| Local elections | Local elections |
| Local politics | Local politics |
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