Adult care may escape spending review axe

Adult social care may escape the axe in the comprehensive spending review, it has emerged.

Ministers have been briefing the media that they will include measures to protect adult social care from the impact of expected real terms cuts of 25% or more to council budgets from 2011-15.

However, it is not clear where the money would come from, what form the protection would take and whether it would enable councils to maintain care spending in real terms or simply mitigate the extent of the cuts.

The reports were welcomed by Age UK’s director of policy and public affairs, Andrew Harrop. But he said: “The real issue is how they do it. Will it be through a special scheme or will it be as part of the block grant to local authorities, and will councils be able to spend the money as they like?”

If the latter, he said, councils would need to be held to account for maintaining spending on adult care. “That would rather change the game. Up to now, it’s been about putting pressure on the Treasury [not councils].”

• Community Care will be providing live online coverage of the spending review tomorrow from midday tomorow.

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