Barbara Keeley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barbara Keeley on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his Cabinet colleagues on making additional funding available to local authorities to help fund the introduction of the national living wage into social care from April 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

Over the course of the Spending Review there have been a large number of in-depth discussions at both official and Ministerial level to inform the outcome. These discussions and analysis informed the decision to provide a settlement which means local government has access to the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament, including:

– The introduction of a social care precept, which puts money raising powers into the hands of local areas who understand the need in their area and who are best placed to respond. This could raise up to £2 billion by the end of the Parliament; and

– From 2017/18, additional funds for social care will be made available through the Better Care Fund. This will rise to £1.5 billion by 2019/20.

Following this additional funding, we expect councils will be able to increase the prices they pay for care in order to cover costs providers are facing such as the national living wage.