Last Updated on March 9, 2017

The Government has announced funding for social care in yesterday’s Spring Budget. Money has been pledged for social care, A&Es and Sustainability and Transformation Plans. The Budget also included an announcement of a Green Paper on the future of social care.

The Government said its Spring Budget announcements set out to 'support the social care system with substantial additional funding, so people get the care they deserve as they grow older, and support both local NHS plans and improvements to Accident and Emergency with new capital investment.'

Building on the Local Government Finance Settlement announcement, the Government has pledged £2bn in additional funding for social care to councils in England between 2017-18 and 2019-20. £1bn will be provided in 2017-18. The Government said, 'Building on the approach to the Better Care Fund, councils will need to work with their NHS colleagues to consider how the funding can be best spent, and to ensure that best practice is implemented more consistently across the country.

'This funding will be supplemented with targeted measures to help ensure that those areas facing the greatest challenges make rapid improvement, particularly in reducing delayed transfers of care between NHS and social care services.'

Vic Rayner, Executive Director of the National Care Forum expressed concern about this particular focus on delayed discharge, 'The very strong link in the Budget to increased funding to reduce delayed discharge of older people will be of great concern, with the Budget statement appearing not to recognise the much broader social care responsibilities of authorities towards people with learning disabilities, and indeed to prevention.'

Other announcements include £100m for the NHS for capital investment in A&E departments. Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are to get £325m over the next three years to support those STPs where there is the strongest case to deliver real improvements for patients and to ensure a sustainable financial position for the NHS.

Tony Hunter, Chief Executive of the Social Care Institute for Excellence highlighted the challenge of how to use Government investment to deliver sustainable transformation.

The Government also announced that it will publish a Green Paper later this year on the future of social care.

Dr Rhidian Hughes, Chief Executive of VODG responded to this announcement, saying, 'There is a big question mark over whether the sector needs yet another review on social care funding. But through the process of the Green Paper announced, we need Government to work genuinely with people who rely on essential services, providers and commissioners to actively plan and crucially to deliver a sustainable social care sector.'

Professor Martin Green OBE Chief Executive of Care England added, 'Whilst the £2bn additional funding over three years for adult social care is welcome it will only be an efficient use of taxpayers money should the Green Paper on Adult Social Care deliver the reforms that are necessary to put the system on a stable footing.'