This year’s £60 billion local government finance settlement for local services includes access to a £2 billion social care grant.

The settlement for the 2023/24 financial year represents a £5.1 billion (9.4%) increase on last year.

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove said: “Every day councils across the country deliver for their communities and play a crucial role in driving forward levelling up.

“This funding package represents an increase of over 9% for councils on last year, ensuring a fair deal for local government that reflects the vital work councils do to provide key services on which we all rely.”

ADASS described the funding package as “helpful but nowhere near what is needed given people’s rising needs and care providers’ spiralling costs”.

The directors of social services said the government’s assertion that adult social care will have access to a ‘historic £7.5 billion funding settlement’ over the next two years was “disingenuous” and unhelpfully raised expectations about what can be achieved to support service users.

ADASS said it was “extremely concerned” about grant conditions on £400 million Market Sustainability and Improvement funding including the scaling back of the Energy Bill Relief Fund from the end of March 2023 that will mean care providers will be subject to additional costs which they are likely to pass, in part at least, on to councils.

The charity said funding should focus on stabilising adult social care over the next two years, including improving retention of the current workforce, reducing the number of high-quality care providers exiting the market and supporting unpaid carers.

It added that the decision not to raise the Better Care Fund by CPI would mean a real terms cut this financial year.

Cllr James Jamieson, chairman of the Local Government Association, said the final settlement “confirms an increase in local government core spending power, which will help councils deal with inflationary and other cost pressures they face next year”.

He added: “However, this is based on the assumption that councils will raise their council tax by the maximum permitted without a referendum.”

Cllr Jamieson further commented: “This is the fifth one-year settlement in a row for councils, which continues to hamper financial planning and their financial sustainability.

“Councils want to work with government on a long-term funding plan which ensures they have adequate resources, certainty and freedoms and can deliver world-class local services for our communities.”