National Living Wage: Social Care

Baroness Buscombe Excerpts

Thursday 5th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, if I sounded complacent, I did not mean to. I recognise that there is tremendous pressure on many providers of adult social care, particularly those funded by local authorities. It is for that reason that—disappointingly, frankly—Dilnot has been postponed. We wanted to bring in Dilnot but we decided that the cost of bringing it in was too great for local authorities to finance in the short term, although we are committed to doing it in the long term. The Government have allowed local authorities to raise a 2% precept and will be increasing the better care fund by £1.5 billion at the end of the period, bringing the total to £3.5 billion. It is a tough settlement—no one is making any bones about that—but tough choices have to be made.

[Baroness Buscombe (Con)]

My Lords, related to this is the whole issue of the better care fund. I think that Ministers will accept that while the better care fund is quite right, the delivery of it has not been properly thought through. In which case, what steps are the Government now taking to ensure that the better care fund is directed towards innovation in social care provision, to stimulate more cost-effective care in the community?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, the better care fund should be seen in a longer-term context of bringing together health and social care. The sustainability and transformation systems that are now being developed are the logical extension of the better care fund. Until prevention, healthcare and social care are brought together in a single budget, it will be extremely difficult to ensure the right allocation of resources.