Somerset County Council has welcomed a new report from the Salvation Army highlighting the urgent need to reform social care.
The study – Care in Places – shows that there is significantly less money to care for older people who live in rural areas of England, such as Somerset.
The Salvation Army is asking the Government to make proper funding of adult social care the priority – and funding most of it centrally to ensure money is distributed more fairly.
Somerset is at the forefront of a national campaign pressing for reforms of social care and the County Council has been widely praised for its central role in a Panorama documentary about the national pressures facing social care as the demands of an ageing population out-strip Government funding.
It allowed the film crew to spend ten months with the its social care staff in a move described as “brave and right” by the Minister for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock MP.
Councillor David Huxtable, Cabinet Member for Adult Services at Somerset County Council, welcomed the Salvation Army report and said: “The social care system needs to be appropriately and sustainably funded and we will continue to stand up for care and fight for that.
“More money isn’t the whole answer. We also need to be working differently and exploring ways of meeting needs in and with our communities. The Salvation Army’s report is timely and underlines the urgent need for reform.”
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