Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of councils charging for social care.

The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2021/22 confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.6% in cash terms - a real terms increase. We are also rolling forward £1.4 billion of Social Care Grant funding from 2020-21. To this, we are adding £300 million of further funding, taking the total Social Care Grant to £1.7 billion. Councils will also have access to almost an additional £800 million through a 3% Adult Social Care precept. This is on top of continuation of all existing social care funding, including £2.1 billion of the improved Better Care Fund

Complementing this is an unprecedented package of support for local authorities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, including £4.6 billion of un-ringfenced funding for Covid-19 pressures in 2020/21 and an additional £1.55 billion of un-ringfenced funding for Covid pressures in 2021/22, including social care

We are now preparing for another Spending Review, which will be an opportunity to look at inflationary and demographic pressures and new service requirements – to ensure sector sustainability across the full Spending Review period.