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<p>Spending Review 2020 confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by
4.5 per cent in cash terms- a real terms increase. This package means local authorities
will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s
Social Care and to maintain universal services. <br> <br> Within their Core Spending
Power, councils will have access to an additional £1billion for social care next year,
made up of a £300 million increase to the social care grant and 3 per cent Adult Social
Care precept. The additional £1 billion of grant funding announced at SR19 for Adult
and Children’s Social Care will be continuing, along with all other existing social
care funding including the improved Better Care Fund. The Settlement is unringfenced
to ensure local areas can prioritise based on their own understanding of the needs
of their local communities. <br> <br> We also recently announced that the Troubled
Families Programme, which provides early, effective and joined up support for families
with complex needs, will continue into a new phase in 2021-21. Up to an additional
£165 million has been available for the programme, which will continue to drive system
change, both locally and nationally, to serve vulnerable families with the intensive,
integrated support they need to overcome their problems before they escalate</p><p><br>
The Troubled Families Programme’s evaluation shows that it has been successful in
improving outcomes for vulnerable families and driving progress towards intensive,
integrated support services. As of September 2020, the programme had funded areas
to work with 439,956 families in most need of help. However, we know that local authorities
are working in a whole family way with at least 865,000 families. As of September
2020, 382,626 families have made sustained improvements with the problems that led
to them joining the programme. In 31,798 of these families one or more adults has
moved off benefits and into sustained employment</p><p><br> At the Spending Review
we announced an unprecedented package of support for local authorities to combat the
Covid-19 pandemic, including measures worth an estimated circa £3 billion of additional
support for Covid-19 pressures next year, along with extending the current Sales,
Fees and Charges scheme (which refunds 75 per cent of eligible income loss beyond
a 5 per cent threshold) into the first three months of 2021-22. <br> <br> This is
on top of the support committed this financial year, including over £7.2 billion for
local authorities, even before the extension of the Contain Outbreak Management Fund
for those authorities under the highest level of restriction – potentially worth over
£200 million a month – announced as part of the Covid-19 Winter Plan. This takes the
total support committed to councils in England to tackle the impacts of Covid-19 to
over £10 billion.</p>
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