I can announce that grant funding for social care will be increased by an additional £1 billion by the fourth year of the Spending Review.

And a further £1 billion for social care will be provided through the NHS to support joint working with councils – so that elderly people do not continue to fall through the crack between two systems.

That’s a total of £2 billion additional funding for social care to protect the most vulnerable.

Mr Speaker, we will also reform our social housing system.

For it is currently failing to address the needs of the country.

Over ten years, more than half a million social rented properties were lost.

Waiting lists have shot up.

Families have been unable to move.

And while a generation ago only one in ten families in social housing had no-one working, this had risen to one in three by 2008-09.

We will ensure that, in future, social housing is more flexible.

The terms for existing social tenants and their rent levels will remain unchanged, new tenants will be offered intermediate rents at around 80% of the market rent.

Alongside £4.4 billion of capital resources, this will enable us to build up to 150,000 new affordable homes over the next four years.

We will continue to improve the existing housing stock through the Decent Homes programme.

And we will reform the planning system so we put local people in charge, reduce burdens on builders and encourage more homes to be built, with a New Homes Bonus scheme.

Within an overall resource budget for the Department for Communities and Local Government that is being reduced to £1.1 billion over the period, priority will be given to protecting the Disabled Facilities Grants.

This will go alongside a £6 billion commitment over four years to the Supporting People programme, which provides help with housing costs for thousands of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

The full speech is here.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Care for the elderly • Housing • NHS

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