Better Care Fund
(asked on 24th May 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124751, how much funding for social care was delivered through the Better Care Fund by source of funding in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.
The Better Care Fund (BCF) brings together health and social care funding. As set out in the Integration and BCF Policy Frameworks for each of 2015-161, 2016-172 and 2017-183, the breakdown of the BCF by the mandatory funding streams is shown in the following table.
Mandatory BCF funding streams | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
Minimum clinical commissioning groups (CCG) contribution | £3.46 billion | £3.519 billion | £3.582 billion |
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) | £0.354 billion4 | £0.394 billion | £0.431 billion |
Grant allocation for adult social care – Improved Better Care Fund (IBCF) | - | - | £1.115 billion |
Total mandatory size of the BCF | £3.8 billion | £3.9 billion | £5.128 billion |
Notes:
1Better Care Fund Policy Framework 2015-16
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-how-it-will-work-in-2015-to-2016
2Better Care Fund Policy Framework 2016-17
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-care-fund-how-it-will-work-in-2016-to-2017
3Integration and Better Care Fund Policy Framework 2017-19
4This includes £0.22 billion DFG and £0.134 billion Social Care Capital Grant.
As one of the conditions for the BCF, each Health and Wellbeing Board agrees a contribution to social care from the minimum CCG contribution, and must maintain this contribution at least in real terms in each year subsequent to 2015-16. The overall contributions from the minimum CCG BCF funding stream to social care from 2015-16 to 2017-18 are as follows:
| 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
Social care contribution from minimum CCG contribution5 | £1.410 billion | £1.541 billion | £1.594 billion |
Note:
5Figures in this table are information collected under standard national BCF planning and quarterly reporting cycles for the respective years by the Better Care Support Team, hosted by NHS England, and planned to be published in due course.
Improved Better Care Fund (IBCF) grants and the DFG are paid directly to local authorities, with a condition that they are pooled into local BCF spending plans. The DFG is paid to local authorities with social care responsibilities to pay for capital costs related to housing adaptations for people with care needs. IBCF grant must be used to deliver services for the three purposes set out in the grant conditions, i.e.:
- Meeting adult social care needs;
- Reducing pressure on the National Health Service, including supporting more people to be discharged from hospital when they are ready; and
- Ensuring that the local social care provider market is supported.
Beyond the mandated minimum for the BCF, local authorities and CCGs often agree to voluntarily make additional contributions to their BCF plans, and use them to fund and deliver services, including integrated services delivered through local authorities. While these voluntary contributions are not subject to the BCF national conditions and the requirements of the fund, they are planned and pooled within the BCF and signify the commitment towards joint working and integrated approaches.
Voluntary additional BCF funding components6 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 |
From CCGs | £745 million | £1,048 million | £1,101 million |
From Local Authorities | £782 million | £941 million | £1,093 million |
A Quality and Outcomes of Person-centred Care Policy Research Unit system-level evaluation of the BCF is underway, with the final report planned for this summer. This will contain information on different categories of BCF spend, including social care.
Note:
6Figures in this table are information collected under standard national BCF planning and quarterly reporting cycles for the respective years by the Better Care Support Team, hosted by NHS England, and planned to be published in due course.