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EXCLUSIVE: Councils facing 'social care black hole' as spending on services rockets by billions

New figures show cash-strapped local authorities in England are now seeing on average almost a fifth of their entire budgets swallowed up by adult social care services

[Councils are now spending 23.3billion a year on adult social care services]

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Councils are now spending 23.3billion a year on adult social care services(Image: Getty Images)

Councils are facing a "social care black hole" as new data shows spending on services spiralling in recent years.

The figures show local authorities in England are now seeing on average almost a fifth of their entire budgets swallowed up by adult social care services.

They are now forking out 23.3billion a year on the services - a staggering increase of 62% compared to 2015-2016 when it stood at 14.4billion. Compiled by the House of Commons Library for the Liberal Democrats, the data adds that over 90% of all councils have seen an increase in the proportion of their spending going on adult social care.

It comes after the Local Government Association warned last month that already cash-strapped councils face a 6.2 funding gap in the next two years.

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The LGA warned that the "risk of financial failure across local governments is potentially becoming systemic" amid the massive pressures.

Ahead of a speech at the organisation's conference, the Lib Dem local government spokeswoman Vikki Slade warned of the black hole in local authority spending ahead of next week's Budget. She said: Councils budgets are creaking under the weight of this social care blac khole and for many it is now moving from crisis to the point of collapse.

"The previous Conservative government's shameful neglect of the crisis in social care has pushed many councils to the edge of bankruptcy and left those in need of these vital services without the care they deserve."

She added: It is now up to the new government to rise to this challenge and immediately begin cross-party talks on social care so we can put the sector and council finances on a long term sustainable footing that provides the care that people desperately need.

A Government spokesman said: Despite the inheritance we have been left, the government is focused on fixing the foundations of local government by rebuilding the sector from the ground up. This includes providing greater stability to areas by moving towards multi-year funding settlements and ending competitive bidding processes for pots of funding.

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