Commenting on financial pressures facing councils and their partners who deliver social care services, COSLA's Health and Social Care Spokesperson, Councillor Paul Kelly, said:

"The increase to Employers’ National Insurance has only been partially funded for councils’ direct staffing costs and hasn’t been funded at all for commissioned services. This is on top of other pressures, like years of funding cuts and inflation. It’s a difficult cycle because inflation has meant services are becoming more expensive to run, but councils have less money to invest in improving them and making them more efficient. This has been worrying for councils and our partner social care providers. It means that councils will have to find different sources of funding to continue providing care – including raising revenue through council tax."

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