I called on the Welsh Government to provide more funding for social care in the face of a cost of living crisis affecting the most vulnerable the hardest.
Our local authorities are facing huge financial pressures, and these pressures have gotten even worse due to the cost of living crisis.
In Neath Port Talbot, the council has been going out into all the communities of the local authority area to have public meetings so that people fully understand what's at stake here and to ask for ideas about how things can be managed.
There are specific pressures on local authority budgets in terms of the increasing demand on social care in my region. In Neath Port Talbot, for example, there's been a steady increase in referrals to adult social services and children and young people's services over the last two years, and Bridgend council recognises in its own words that gaps exist in social care services.
Without additional funding to meet the need for social services for adults and children, it will be impossible to solve some of the causes of the crisis in the health service—for example, people unable to leave hospitals, and more people going to hospital due to pressure on families that don't have the right support.
According to the Wales fiscal analysis team, the Chancellor's autumn statement means there'll be an additional £1.2 billion available to the Welsh Government over the next two years as a result of the Barnett consequentials.
I therefore called on the Welsh Government to provide assurances that the funding included in this £1.2 billion for local government social care services is passported in full during the next two years into local government settlements.
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