Select Committee report on Long-term funding of adult social care

Long term funding of adult social care cover

The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee has published a report in which it calls for the Government to urgently come forward with additional funding this year to help meet immediate pressures in adult social care.

Despite positive stakeholder comments on the Government’s vision for social care and recognising impact on the sector of Covid, the Committee called upon Government to publish a 10-year plan for how the ‘People at the Heart of Care White Paper’ will be achieved, with a clear roadmap with core milestones, outcomes, and measures of success, including references to housing.

With two chapters relating to housing and planning (Chapter 7) and the integration of health, care and housing (Chapter 10), the report specifically recommends the Government should:

Create a separate taskforce for housing for working age disabled adults alongside the taskforce for housing for older people.
Consider introducing statutory requirements for local authorities to produce plans for housing for older and disabled people based on assessments of housing need.
Consult on whether one or more Use Classes or sub-classes should be introduced in order to unlock more development of different types of accommodation that is suitable for older and disabled people, and meets the demand within communities.
Have proper regard to a person’s housing needs as part of their care provision in integrated health strategies.

The report also makes some references to technology and recognises the innovation that will rapidly need to be applied as part of the digitisation programme.