Homecare Association responds to news of an extra £500m for councils

The Minister for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations, Michael Gove has announced additional funding of £600 million for councils in England.

The support package will see £500 million directed towards the Social Care Grant to increase budgets for the coming year. This is alongside the £64 billion pound funding proposal outlined in the 2024/2025 Local Government Finance Settlement.

Homecare Association CEO, Dr Jane Townson OBE said:

“We welcome news of an extra £500m from central government to councils to support social care and other key services, though this goes only some way to plugging the £4 billion gap in council finances.

Care providers remain worried that councils will struggle to increase fee rates for care enough to cover the 9.8% increase in the national minimum wage to £11.44 per hour in April.

To save money, some councils are driving down prices for homecare, which are already too low, and we fear this is creating the conditions for unscrupulous providers to prevail, leading to a decline in care quality and an increase in labour abuse and modern slavery.

We continue to call on the government to invest adequately in homecare and community-based support to improve quality of life; extend life expectancy; reduce inequalities; alleviate the burden on the NHS; and decrease healthcare costs”.

  --ENDS--