Agenda item

Councillor Reema Patel moved the Motion in her name. Councillor Sachin Rajput moved his amendment. Debate ensued.

The amendment in the name of Councillor Sachin Rajput was put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

The amendment was therefore carried.

The substantive motion was then put to the vote. Votes were recorded as follows:

The motion was therefore carried, and the following was RESOLVED:

As Barnet's Graph of Doom so clearly expressed, there is a crisis in social care in Barnet caused by an increasingly ageing population with more complex needs, more demand for social care services and less funding to pay for it.

Demand for assessments and support under the Care Act is rising in Barnet, with 58,822 calls to Social Care Direct in 2015/16 – 14,433 more than the previous year, although so far this has not resulted in an increase in the number of service users.

Barnet has increased-cost pressures from residential care placements (there are 91 care homes in total in Barnet), delayed transfers of care from hospital and deprivation of liberty safeguards.

Because of the increase in demand for care services overall and the almost certainty of that increasing in future years, coupled with the unique nature of individual care needs, Barnet’s adults’ social care budget can be pushed into overspend due to circumstances out of its control – currently by around £4m.

As a result of limited social care resources across the country, predominately due to the reckless overspending of the last Labour Government in Westminster leading to austerity measures being required, there is arguably an adverse impact on stability and capacity in the social care workforce which has an effect on care quality. It is noted that social care providers and the NHS are also under pressure.

Everyone agrees that the situation is not sustainable.

In a recent statement responding to the Care Quality Commission’s State of Care 2015/16 report which finds that the sustainability of the adult social care market is approaching a tipping point, Margaret Willcox, Vice-President of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, said:

“We have been arguing for some time now that adult social care needs to be given adequate recognition and resourcing. Services are being cut and the outlook for future care is bleak. We are at a tipping point where social care is in jeopardy and unless the Government addresses the underfunding of the sector, there will be worrying consequences for the care market, the NHS and, most importantly, for older and disabled people, their families and carers."

Council believes that a decent society provides the necessary resources to care for its older and disabled people.

Council welcomes the possibility of additional funding through the social care precept, but notes that in one year the maximum barely covers the current local overspend in adult social care, and will not cover future demand for services.

Council therefore asks the Leader of the Council to write to the Prime Minister to express the challenges local authorities like Barnet face and seek ways for councils, the government and the health service to further work together to address them.

Council also calls on the Health & Wellbeing Board to continue to consider the social care needs of Barnet residents and how the council can work with government and partners in the health and social care sectors to deliver good outcomes, alongside the work the Childrens’ and Adults’ Committees do in this regard.