Council tax rates 'could be raised to fund tipping-point social care'
Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Libby Wiener
Council tax bills in England could be hiked up to plug the social care funding black hole, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).
Ministers have discussed with local authorities the prospect of raising council tax to make up for smaller government grants.
Since 2010, local authorities have had to contend with losing more than 40% in central funding - severely impacting on social care.
Now the government is looking at council tax as a way to compensate for the deficiency, according to an LGA chairperson.
The discussions come amid growing fear that the social care system is at tipping point.
Millions of households have already been warned that almost nine out of ten local authorities plan to increase council tax for 2017/18.
Former chancellor George Osborne introduced a 2% precept to pay for care for the elderly and disabled which will raise £380 million this year.
But several figures estimated this was not enough, with the LGA warning the higher minimum wage is costing councils £600 million.
Speaking to the House of Commons on Monday, David Mowat MP said: "I accept that our system is under strain, and that pressure has been building for some years now.
"The Government response to this has been to ensure that councils have access to funding to increase social care spend by the end of this Parliament.
"We estimate the increase could be around 5% in real terms."
The Government has also been advised that any increase would favour richer areas with a higher tax base, creating a "postcode lottery".
Barbara Keeley MP said: "The Government intends to dump this funding crisis onto local councils and council tax payers.
"Local councils in the least deprived areas would be able to raise over twice as much as those in most deprived", she warned.
Former health secretary Stephen Dorrell said he was in favour of a hike in council tax as a step in the right direction, but warned that "people will suffer" without wider change.
Suggesting the Government was facing a crisis that is developing "out of control", he told Today: "What we need to look to do is to have a review of the funding of the whole of the health and care system.
"Because what we're talking about this morning is a cash shortage that is threatening the stability not just of local government, but of the National Health Service.
"And unless we address this seriously we simply see a developing failure of service across the range of local public services and people will suffer as a consequence of that failure".
Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, which represents care home providers, said there were "serious problems" about how money raised from the precept reaches the frontline.
He added that the care sector was now at a "tipping point".
Asked if care companies would go bankrupt, he replied: "Oh definitely".