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Derek Wanless said today that all three main political parties recognise the current funding system for adult social care is not sustainable.

Wanless, the author of a landmark prospectus for change, told a King’s Fund debate on his report said there was a political consensus that the means-tested system had to be reformed, and that the overall level of spending would have to rise in the long-term.

Wanless’s report which was published in March, called for spending increases and a system in which all service users would receive a minimum level of free care which they would top up with state assistance.

However, Sarah Pickup, the Association of Directors of Social Services’ lead on carers, warned that councils faced an immediate funding crisis and, despite the representations of Wanless and others, the government was not responding to calls for greater spending.