A COUNCIL has called on the Government to set up a task force to tackle the adult social care crisis as it prepares to spend more than a third of its entire budget on the sector.

Members of all political parties unanimously urged the Government to take “bold thinking and decisive action” to help struggling social care services at a West Sussex County Council meeting in Chichester on Friday.

The council will spend £296 million – 36 per cent of its entire budget – next year on adult social care services, to meet the increasing demand for care.

Overall the budget for adult social care has risen from 33 per cent of the total council budget in 2013/14 to 36 per cent in 2017/18.

Council leader Louise Goldsmith is writing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to raise the council’s concerns and call for national leadership to address long-term issues.

The council is considering last week’s offer from government to increase council tax further than originally expected to cover the growing costs of adult social care.

However, calls were made at the full council meeting for the Government to develop a longer term and strategic view of how to support an increasingly ageing population.

Cllr Goldsmith said: "We need the Government to grasp the nettle, look at properly funding social care and make long-term plans.

"By increasing council tax we are simply adding the burden on to local taxpayers and this does not address the wider systematic and widespread issues of an ageing population nationally with more people requiring support or care.

"I welcome the statement from the Prime Minister that she is committed to finding a sustainable funding solution for the future but we need to see action now. Drip-feeding money into the system is simply not sufficient.

"What is needed is national leadership that will focus on helping people to help themselves. We are reaching a tipping point and we now need bold thinking and decisive action to come from government."

Peter Catchpole, cabinet member for adult social care and health, said £7 million raised last year in council tax had done little more than cover the cost of the national living wage.

He said: "The older population is growing and with age comes frailty and long-term conditions.

"We, along with many other councils, are facing a desperate situation and having to make difficult decisions about other services in our attempts to protect adult services.

"As well as funding pressures we hope the recruitment and retention of care workers can also be addressed at a national level."