Quarter Of Tory Councillors Think Adult Social Care Is Underfunded In Their Area

A quarter of Conservative councillors think their local authority does not receive enough money to meet statutory duty service level requirements for adult social care.

Polling carried out by Savanta for Labour Together between February and March, seen by PoliticsHome, asked 391 Conservative councillors in England, Scotland and Wales for their views on their local authority’s provisions. 24 per cent of respondents felt their local authority did not have enough funds to provide adequate adult social care provisions, while 19 per cent said the same for children’s safeguarding and social care. 

Nearly a third – 32 per cent – said they did not have enough funding to meet statutory duty service level requirements for road maintenance. 

16 per cent felt funding was inadequate for education services, 14 per cent for housing services, and 10 per cent for libraries. Only 5 per cent felt funding for waste collection meant they were not able to provide statutory levels of service.

With 2,660 council seats in England due to be contested in the local elections on 2 May, failing public services are at the top of many voters' concerns. However, adult social care often makes up the vast majority of council expenditure. A report by the King's Fund charity in February recommended that the health and care system in England should shift its focus away from hospital care to primary and community services if it is to be effective and sustainable.

Conservative Councillor George Perfect, Deputy Leader of the Opposition at Medway Council in Kent, said that securing adequate funding for adult and children’s social care was particularly challenging due to increasing demand. 

“The increasing need in recent years across both services, coupled with major