AN adult social care “nightmare scenario” is looming, despite a concerted effort by an authority to overhaul the service, its leader has warned.

Councillor Bill Dixon said while a scheme launched last year by Darlington Borough Council to transform care for elderly and vulnerable people in the town was improving efficiency and limiting demand, it would only “ease pressure, but not solve the problem, which is getting worse on a daily basis”.

The Labour councillor has joined a number of local authority leaders in the region in pressing the government to reform how care homes are funded, with social care for adults and children now accounted for 62 per cent of the council’s budget.

At present those with more than £23,250 in property or savings must pay full care home fees, those with between £14,250 and £23,250 contribute towards the costs alongside councils, while fees are paid by councils for those with less than £14,250 .

Which? found in the 2016-17 financial year the average charge at residential care homes in the North-East was £563 a week.

The calls for change have come ahead of a government Green Paper examining social care funding and the contributions of the state and individuals that is expected to be published by the Department of Health and Social Care in the summer.

Councillor Dixon said he feared another situation like the collapse of Southern Cross – Britain’s then biggest residential care provider – in 2011, which affected more than 30,000 elderly and vulnerable residents.

He said while he was aware “some of these providers are living right on the edge”, councils no longer had the funds to bail out care homes.

Councillor Dixon said: “If a major provider goes bankrupt how are we going to respond? That’s the nightmare scenario as the capacity is not there any more. The response is not going to be pretty, yet it’s highly avoidable.

“This service should be funded through income tax. There are very few families this doesn’t touch. It is the only fair way to fund a service like this is at a national level. We can’t go on like this, it’s not sustainable. 

“Darlington Borough Council has lost £40m that used to come from central government, some of that money needs to be returned and some of it purely for adult social care. 

“Let’s hope they come up with something sensible where they come up with an injection of new money.”