Government risks ‘marginalising’ social care

The government was warned it
risks marginalising social care and seeing it as a “rescue service”
rather than as a means to ensure the overall wellbeing of
communities, writes Amy
Taylor.

 

Alison King, chairperson of the
Local Government Association social affairs and health executive,
said that local authorities have a duty to promote social, economic
and environmental wellbeing, and that the stance of local
authorities which locate their social care performance in the
context of local well-being should not be lost.

 

“It would be a tragedy if this
vision – this breadth of approach – were allowed to be damaged
irremediably by a narrow government interpretation of social care
as some sort of blue light rescue service – on the margins of the
NHS or education,” she told the National Social Services
Conference.

 

King went on to criticise the
government in light of ministers’ recent comments about local
authorities decisions to raise council tax. “We have never yet
found that taking cheap shots, or attributing blame to the people
you rely on to deliver the goods, is the most effective way to
deliver your outcomes.”

 

She instead called for “a
closer, continuing dialogue” with government about the way money is
allocated to councils and their abilities to raised more funds
locally.

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