Adult social care will receive an extra £2bn a year by 2014-15 to help the sector withstand massive cuts to council funding announced today by Chancellor George Osborne in the spending review.

Osborne said that councils would face cuts of 7% a year over the next four years.

But he said adult social care would receive an extra grant rising to £1bn a year by 2014-15, plus a further £1bn in annual funding from the NHS. The latter would support joint working between health and social care, the chancellor said.

The £2bn is unlikely to compensate adult care for the overall cuts in council funding.

Osborne also announced that Supporting People would receive £6bn over the next four years, which amounts to a slight reduction on current annual funding of £1.6bn a year.

Overall, the vast majority of local government funds will no longer be ring fenced from 2011 onwards, with the exception of schools and public health funding.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/10/20/115619/osborne-finds-...