Local councils spent £21.2bn on adult social care in 20-21

Local Government article suggests that the rise in spending published in the Adult Care Activity and Finance Report England 2020-21 also reflects an increase in government funding in 2020-21 specifically to support the adult social care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This includes government grants including the Adult Social Care Infection Control Fund and the Workforce Capacity Fund for adult social care.

The report is one of five publications released by NHS Digital covering topics including outcomes, activity, finance and the opinions of those receiving care and contain figures covering 2020-21. Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework, England 2020-21 found that the proportion of new clients who received short-term services, where no further request was made for ongoing support, decreased from 79.5% in 2019-20 to 74.9% in 2020-21.

The rise in spending does not directly relate to people whose care is supported by the local authority,  so overall totals are not directly comparable with previous years.