Chancellor Philip Hammond is facing a backlash from senior Conservative party members by failing to address growing concerns regarding extra funding for social care.
Attempting to hold off a winter NHS meltdown, the Chancellor handed out a ยฃ35m bailout with extra ยฃ1.6bn scheduled for 2018. However, experts have said that the funding is around half of what is actually needed to keep services running smoothly.
โIt is extremely important that the two words โsocial careโ didnโt pass the Chancellorโs lips on budget day,โ said former Conservative health secretary and current chair of the NHS Confederation, Stephen Dorrell.
โHaving relieved short-term pressure, what we are now committed to is a set of budget numbers that, by the Chancellorโs own implicit admission, will lead to a rebuilding of the pressure that he recognised in the spring was unsustainable.
โWe know that, looking at the sector as a whole, no one thinks this is sustainable in anything other than the short term, and the short term is running out again. Will this [money in the budget] reverse the trends on waiting times? Clearly it doesnโt. The level of demand continues to grow. That can only lead to added demand going unmet.โ
Discussing the budget announcement, Izzi Seccombe, Chair of the Local Government Associationโs Community Wellbeing Board said: โThe Government needs to put this right in the local government finance settlement or else risk failing the ambition to support peopleโs independence and wellbeing with quality care and support.โ
โIf Government wants to reduce the pressures on the health service and keep people out of hospital in the first place, then it needs to tackle the chronic underfunding of care and support services in the community, which are at a tipping point.โ
A Government spokesman said: โWe are committed to publishing a green paper on the future of social care โ this will include proposals to place a limit on the care costs individuals face. Details will be set out when it is published.โ