At today's full meeting of Salford City Council, a motion was passed unanimously by both Conservative and Labour councillors calling on the Tory Government to provide more money for adult social care, more fairness in the distribution of national resources and more transparency in the process of allocating central government funds.
Moving the motion, Councillor Gina Reynolds said that Salford has rising health and social care needs, with a rapidly growing and ageing population which will see the amount of people over 65 increase by 5% by 2021 and a doubling of people over 85.
She explained that social care was in crisis and listed how Salford can now only provide care for those with high needs; how people are being charged for services that were formerly free; how care homes are struggling to recruit staff and remain solvent, and how an increasing number of people are stuck in hospitals because of delays in arranging care packages…
Councillor Reynolds added that, while Salford led the way in Greater Manchester by providing integrated social and health care, without adequate funding "it will struggle to survive"... "It's an absolute disgrace" she insisted.
She slammed the "paltry offerings from last budget" and the fact that "the Tories are putting unfair pressure on the council and residents to cover the adult social care funding gap".
While the Government announced new national funding for adult social care, she argued that it was dishonest..."there is no new money...in real terms the Tories are recycling £240million within budgets, tying care funding relating to need to council tax and a deduction from the New Homes Budget."
It resulted, she said, in a £2.3million loss to Salford, the second biggest loss in country, while Buckinghamshire gained £1.2million.
Councillor Heather Fletcher told how the Government "disregards middle aged and elderly people, and puts their needs financially and otherwise to the bottom of the pile...
"...Elderly people contributed to society financially and in our communities and shouldn't be facing stress and obstacles in the autumn of their lives" she added "The Government should help and look after them, and not punish them..."
The Conservative councillors supported the motion, although their leader, Les Turner, said he didn't like the words "dishonest" and "paltry" within it. Councillor Robin Garrido added that he supported the motion but did not support "some of the political language which is evident in nearly every single paragraph of the motion."
Both argued that politics should be kept out of the social care debate, much to the anger of Labour councillors, who continued to use the Tory Government and Tory councillors as verbal punch bags.
Deputy Mayor, John Merry, slated the "bizarre logic" of Tory councillors; that a 1% council tax rise was the best way of meeting social care need...
"When you compare what this authority can raise with a 1% council tax increase to, say, what Kensington and Chelsea can raise, we're talking about four or five times the money" he said "....Have you got the nerve to stand here as a Salford councillor and tell us that the people of Kensington and Chelsea are entitled to five times the social care that the people of Salford are? I think you should be ashamed of yourself quite frankly..."
No Tory councillor responded. Meanwhile, other Labour councillors preferred to tell their own personal stories of cuts within the social care system. Councillor Sammie Bellamy told how she was caring for her father who had dementia, with no help for seven years... "I had to go to the care home to feed my father" she recalled "because the care home couldn't deal with him, they didn't have enough staff...I've seen the pressures..."
And Councillor Richard Critchley added that his grandma is 94 and registered blind, and he has been trying to seek support for her... "I can't be there 24:7 to look after her" he said "I rang her local authority and was told that, due to cuts they could do nothing, they could no longer help my grandma at all. I was told to ring a charity instead...
"...I rang all the charities that work in her area and they told me they can't provide support any more - because of the cuts to local authority funding and other support funding they don't get funds anymore" he added "She's a 94 year old blind veteran and this Government will not provide any support for her. I think it's a sad state of affairs..."
Councillor Jim King argued that, instead of putting the costs of adult social care onto residents, extra funding could come from fair taxation. This is otherwise known as the campaign for a Robin Hood Tax... "Billions of pounds are traded on capital markets daily in the UK but not a penny of that trading is taxed" he explained "Putting more taxes on poor people is going to make then poorer...this will only impact on wealthy traders..."
Councillor Reynolds concluded the debate by repeating that "the system is at breaking point". The motion was duly passed by all councillors....
The full Adult Social Care Motion...
"Adult Social Care is in crisis. Britain's frontline services are struggling with an
ageing population with increasingly complex social needs. Local authorities
around the country are at breaking point, yet despite this, between 2010-2015
over £4.6bn has been cut from the adult social care budget according the
Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
This year, in response to increasing pressure from frontline professionals, trade
unions, local politicians and expert voices across the country, the government
has agreed to put £240m more into the ASC budget. This money is a drop in the
ocean – but to make matters worse, it is not new investment. Instead, the
government has raided the New Homes Bonus.
For many of the poorest areas of the country, this will actually mean less money
for frontline services. In Salford, we will lose £2.3m from our budget through
these changes in 2017-18, meaning more pressure on already overstretched
resources. This is in addition to austerity, which has seen Salford Council lose
£186 million from our budget since 2010.
Poorer Local Authorities, in particular, are now being forced to increase council
tax. This is unfair on low income earners, already struggling to make ends
meet. And it puts a disproportionate pressure on more deprived Local
Authorities who raise less income through local tax.
As a council we move that...
More Money is needed for Adult Social Care. The paltry offerings from the last
budget do not come close to covering the funding gap for necessary services.
Significantly more money is needed to replace what has been lost since 2010.
More Fairness is needed in the distribution of resources. Area-specific grants
which fall outside of the Revenue Support Grant (RSG) disproportionately
benefit wealthier authorities. Resources from local government can't continue to
be distributed on a crude per-capita basis which doesn't adequately take relative
need into account.
More Transparency is needed in the process of allocating central government
funds. Shuffling money between different pots and calling it new investment is
dishonest, and deliberately confuses the political debate. This forces unfair
taxation locally, and increases pressure on the poor.
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