Telford and Wrekin Council criticised for inadequate care funding

Prof Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said care providers needed to be properly funded

Vulnerable people will be at serious risk if Telford and Wrekin Council does not address its inadequate social care funding, an independent body says.

Care England has criticised the authority's uplift increases of 3% in care home rates and 6.6% in domiciliary care to support local care providers.

The charity, representing independent adult social care providers, is calling for a significant rise in funding.

The council said it understood the pressures providers faced.

Prof Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said care providers needed to be properly funded and urged the Labour-run authority to address the uplift amount, as inflation is running at about 10%.

"Vulnerable people will be at serious risk if we do not give a significant increase in funding for social care services," he said.

Most vulnerable residents

"The current inadequate funding from Telford & Wrekin Council will only seek to undermine the efforts of adult social care providers in providing quality care to those that require their services."

Councillor Andy Burford, cabinet member for adult social care, said the authority would always prioritise essential services and a peer review last year found its care services to be "exceptional".

He also criticised a lack of funding from central government.

"This year, to ensure our most vulnerable residents are cared for, our council will need to invest an extra £6.7m into adult social care, taking the total cost to over £53m - around 40% of the council's entire budget," he said.

"The Adult Social Care levy covers only a small part of this."

He added that with others, the authority had started the National Fair Cost of Care Exercise to gather information on the true cost of care and influence government on the investment needed.