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Councils face £5.8bn funding black hole

COUNCILS face a funding “black hole” of £5.8 billion between now and 2020 — crippling social care budgets — the Local Government Association (LGA) warns today.

The body, which represents councils across England and Wales, is urging for new funding for social care, as it predicts further drastic budget slashes will hit two-thirds of councils worse than expected.

Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid announced that an “adult social care support grant” of £240 million will be created for 2017-18, to encourage councils to build extra properties, known as the new homes bonus (NHB).

However to qualify, councils are required to achieve housing growth of greater than 0.4 per cent.

The LGA said this will see as many as 201 district councils lose out on NHB money, edging them towards “financial tipping point.”

LGA’s Tory chairman Lord Porter said: “Genuinely new government money is also now the only way to protect the services caring for our elderly and disabled people.”

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