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Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith admitted to local government leaders that he could not promise extra resources for social services under a Conservative administration, writes Lauren Revans.

Responding to questions from delegates at the annual Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth, Duncan Smith said he could not guarantee extra money, but pledged to free up existing resources by tackling what he referred to as "the overlap" between health and social services.

Duncan Smith said that the occurrence of 'bed blocking' at a time when care homes were being forced to close, was proof of the absence of joined up thinking on health and social care policy.

He said that both sectors would benefit from redirecting the money spent on hospital beds for people medically fit for discharge to extra places in care homes.

He also criticised the government’s decision to introduce new regulations for care homes, despite councillors fears about the impact of the new standards on a sector already complaining of insufficient resources.

He predicted that the increase in the social services budget announced in April would not even meet the additional cost of meeting these standards.

Duncan Smith said he believed the current recruitment and retention difficulties facing the public sector could be tackled by returning to the frontline some of the decision-making powers taken away by central government, and by reducing the constraints of red tape and inspection.