County Council Heads Spotlight Urgent Issues Facing Adult Social Care Services

Release date: 21 January 2025

Leaders from West Sussex County Council are expressing significant apprehensions to the government regarding escalating pressures in the adult social care arena, particularly the difficulties encountered by care providers.

In an open correspondence addressed to the Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock MP, Cllr Paul Marshall, the Council Leader, along with Cllr Amanda Jupp, Cabinet Member for Adults Services, underscores how the absence of dependable funding is ‘rendering it increasingly challenging for the sector to formulate budgets or to strategize and deliver effective services.’

The letter states: “the adult social care sector is confronting serious difficulties concerning ever-increasing demand, soaring costs, and workforce challenges, all of which result in unquantifiable consequences, impacting not only social care providers but also the wider public.”

Addressing the rising necessity and intricacy of needs within adult social care, it cautions that ‘without financial support to accommodate these increases, it becomes unfeasible to ensure that the availability and quality of care will remain intact.’

A recent survey conducted by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services indicated that 81% of upper-tier councils are anticipating a budget overspend on their adult social care for the year 2024/25.

In West Sussex, the county council plans to augment the adult social care budget by £28.4m, raising it to £292m for 2025/26 (£524.8m gross).

While there has been some supplementary funding from the Government, welcomed by the sector, this is inadequate to meet the requirements, particularly in light of recent hikes in the National Living Wage (NLW) and employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

This has led to additional financial strain on local authorities and social care providers, with national increases estimated to reach up to £1.8bn, for which only £0.88bn of additional funding has been allocated.

The Care Providers Alliance has referred to the ‘devastation’ these Government announcements will cause and the ‘immense concern, distress, and despair’ already present across the sector, which is still grappling with years of underfunding and rising demand and complexity of care needs.

The county council is set to ratify its budget for 2025/26 in a Full Council Meeting scheduled for Friday, 14 February. Despite being able to propose a balanced budget for the coming year, the council has cautioned that, without enhanced funding for the sector, it anticipates enduring significant challenges for the coming years, primarily due to pressures in adults’ social care.

The letter is shared in full below.

Dear Minister,

We are reaching out to you to highlight the intensifying pressures being encountered across the adult social care sector, especially the challenges faced by adult social care providers.

It is acknowledged by all political factions that the adult social care sector is grappling with serious difficulties stemming from ever-increasing demand, escalating costs, and workforce issues, which are leading to unquantifiable effects not only on social care providers but also on the general public. These challenges are further exacerbated by the absence of a sustainable financial agreement, which is making it progressively harder for the sector to establish budgets or to plan and deliver effective services while fulfilling statutory duties under the Care Act 2014.

A recent survey conducted by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services showed that 81% of upper tier councils are predicting an overspend on their adult social care budgets for 2024/25, typically around 3%. Furthermore, a recent report from the County Councils Network (CCN) indicated that per capita expenditure on adult social care in county regions has surged by 50%, climbing from £237 per person in 2013/14 to £357 per person in 2023/24. The volume of service requests has reached an unprecedented high, with approximately 955,000 requests for services in counties last year. In 2023/24, West Sussex completed 98,558 requests for support. This reality has been underpinned by a continual workforce challenge, with an estimated 65,000 vacancies present in the sector in county regions.

Over recent years, there have been some critical injections of additional funding, welcomed by the sector. However, while this funding has aided in stabilizing services to some degree, it has proven short-term, fragmented, and coincided with increasing demand and high inflation—restricting councils’ capacity to budget effectively, expand services, or commit to long-term investments.

The sector’s ability to manage this already precarious situation has now been profoundly affected by the Government’s Budget decisions to elevate the National Living Wage (NLW) and employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs), which has shifted a substantial financial load onto both local authorities and social care providers. Nationally, these increases are projected to cost up to £1.8bn, with only £0.88bn of additional resources being designated.

The Care Providers Alliance has referred to the ‘devastation’ these announcements will yield, alongside the ‘overwhelming concern, distress, and despair’ befalling ‘the sector, which is already reeling from years of inadequate funding coupled with rising demand and acuity.’ In the absence of funding to manage these increases, it is inconceivable to guarantee that the availability and quality of care will not deteriorate.

In West Sussex, while the effects may vary among providers, the consensus suggests the impact will range between 8% and 9.5%. As the County Council prepares its budget for 2025/26, it is only able to provide for an average increase of 5.3% in funding for local providers. For the last three years, this Council has supported the local market with average fee level increases of 8%, 9%, and 8% respectively, corresponding with inflation and national living wage hikes. The Council intends to fund increases due to inflation and living wage for the financial year 2025/26, but it simply lacks the resources or has not been allocated additional funding to cover rises in national insurance contributions across all providers. Without further financial support, it remains uncertain how these costs will be addressed. Shifting the burden of these expenses onto providers poses significant risks to our local providers, our constituents, and the County Council. We have consistently collaborated closely with our local providers; however, given our position in the broader care market in West Sussex, where we procure only around 35% of the market, with most being self-funders, providers may be unwilling to accept lower increases. In a worst-case scenario, this could lead to some local providers being forced to close their operations, returning care packages to the Council, prioritizing work with private funders exclusively, or raising prices throughout the year whenever a new care package is initiated. All these outcomes would considerably affect our local residents, local workforce, and local proprietors of longstanding and reputable businesses, alongside escalated cost pressures and budget overspends for the County Council.

This decision will reverberate through the broader West Sussex economy. With more than 500 care providers operating in West Sussex, the sector is a significant employer in the county.

As the new Commission for Adult Social Care is established and reform efforts progress, we would appreciate it if the Government could endeavor to ensure that the adult social care sector can continue to provide services to the most vulnerable residents of our county and advocate for supplying adult social care providers with the necessary support to avert forced closures due to NI and NLW adjustments. We would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss these matters with you in greater depth, should that be beneficial.

We are including West Sussex MPs and West Sussex Partners in Care (WSPiC) in this correspondence, who represent our local care providers.

We anticipate your response.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Paul Marshall

Leader

West Sussex County Council

Cllr Amanda Jupp

Cabinet Member for Adults Services

West Sussex County Council