The Social Care Levy in Context

In 2019/20, the total expenditure on adult social care by local authorities was £23.3 billion.

The additional funding announced as part of the Government’s reforms amounts to £5.4billion over the next 3 years and of this around half will be earmarked to fund the new care cap.

The balance equates to a 3.8% annual increase in current spending on a like for like basis.

Given the scale and extent of the problems faced by adult social care, - not least the 40% differential between local authority and self-funded care fees, it seems to us to be mathematically impossible for the extra funding to make a meaningful difference to our care system