Over the Christmas period, I spent time in a couple of residential care homes, both of which provide a caring environment and cater for older people with dementia. Having just received the provisional local government settlement for 2017/18, it was very grounding to come back to the real issue of how we provide an affordable, high quality of life for people who can no longer live in their own homes, as well as support for those who can live independently. Are the proposed changes to the New Homes Bonus (NHB) going to provide the long-term solution? Sadly, that answer is no. Simply moving money around the system is not going to make the difference needed to provide care services and support the housing growth required. For all 201 district councils, the total NHB has gone down from an indicative £488m for 2017/18 in the February settlement to £413m in December. The total NHB has also been reduced from £l,005m to £839m for those councils with social care responsibilities.
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