The Government has announced additional measures for local authorities, worth £600 million. This includes £500 million of new funding for councils with responsibility for adults and children’s social care, distributed through the Social Care Grant. Further information will be set out at the upcoming budget.
With this new funding, local government in England will see an increase in core spending power of up to £4.5 billion next year. This is an increase of 7.5%, an above inflation increase.
A provisional Settlement consultation ran from 18 December until 15 January 2024, after the provisional settlement was published with over £64 billion made available for local authorities.
The Government have listened to the sector’s consultation responses and recognise that there is significant demand in social care – including for children’s social care – and the final Settlement will therefore deliver a further boost for social care authorities. On top of the £1 billion in additional funding announced at Autumn Statement 2022 and July 2023, we will be providing a further £500 million to support authorities with social care responsibilities.
I welcome the extra funding which will be made available for the local authorities in my Mid Worcestershire constituency.
