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Labour Party Blames Tory Local Budget Cuts for Social Care Crisis

© AFP 2023 / OLI SCARFFLabour party activist
Labour party activist - Sputnik International
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Conservative Party’s cuts to local budgets have caused a crisis in the funding of social care programs in the United Kingdom, Shadow Minister for Social Care Barbara Keeley said Monday.

Britain's Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Britain, September 28, 2016. - Sputnik International
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) The comment appeared in the wake of reports that Prime Minister Theresa May is considering rises of council tax to cover the funding gap in social care and support local care providers.

“There is a crisis in the funding of social care caused by savage Tory cuts to the budgets of local councils. £4.6 Billion has been cut from adult social care since 2010, meaning 400,000 fewer people now have publicly funded care,” Keeley said.

According to reports circulating in local media, council tax could see a rise of over 60 pounds ($75) with 9 out of 10 local authorities planning to increase charges for providing social care for elderly.

Keeley said that the right solution to the issue would be for the government to admit that “the Tories have got it wrong and deliver the needed funding for social care.”  She underlined that asking taxpayers to pay “for the Tories’ failure is no substitute for a proper plan.”

According to providers of social care, the current crisis is caused by a combination of government’s cuts to local authority funds and the new national minimum wage, which is now 7.20 pounds instead of 6.70 pounds per hour. The Local Government Association claims that the funding gap by 2020 will reach at least 2.6 billion pounds.

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