WEST Sussex county councillors have called on the Government to set up a task force to tackle the adult social care crisis.

Councillors from all political parties unanimously urged the government to take “bold thinking and decisive action” to help struggling social care services at a full council meeting, held before Christmas.

The council says it will spend £296million – 36 per cent of its entire budget – next year on adult social care services, to meet the increasing demand for care.

Overall the budget for adult social care has risen from 33 per cent of the total council budget in 2013/14 to 36 per cent in 2017/18.

Council leader Louise Goldsmith will now write to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to raise West Sussex’s serious concerns and call for national leadership to address the long-term issues.

The council is also considering the offer from Whitehall to increase council tax further than originally expected – by an extra two per cent – to cover the growing costs of care.

But calls were made by the full council for government to develop a longer term and strategic view of how to support an increasingly ageing population. The council will also set up a local leadership group to work in partnership with NHS organisations, district and borough councils, voluntary and community sector and care providers.

West Sussex supports around 13,000 older people of whom 8,000 are eligible for financial support. The number of people aged over 75 will increase by an additional 2,200 people each year until 2021 and then a further rise of 4,400 will be seen every year.

Peter Catchpole, member for adult social care and health, said: “The older population is growing and with age comes frailty and long-term conditions.

“The two per cent social care precept raised around £7 million last year, which did little more than to cover the costs of the national living wage and other inflationary pressures.

“We, along with many other councils, are facing a desperate situation and we are having to make difficult decisions about other services in our attempts to protect adults’ services.

“As well as funding pressures we hope the recruitment and retention of care workers can also be addressed at a national level.”

Ms Goldsmith said: “We need the Government to grasp the nettle, look at properly funding social care and make long-term plans and I was delighted that our calls received cross party support today.

“By increasing council tax we are simply adding the burden onto local council taxpayers and this does not address the wider systematic and widespread issues of an ageing population nationally with more people requiring support or care.”

She added: “I welcome the statement from the PM that she is committed to finding a sustainable funding solution for the future but we need to see action now. Drip-feeding money into the system is simply not sufficient.

“What is needed is national leadership that will focus on helping people to help themselves. We are reaching a tipping point and we now need bold thinking and decisive action to come from government.”

The county says it has invested in more efficient ways of delivering services and is working closer than ever with partners in the health service to deal with the dual pressures of increasing demand and reducing resources.

Councillors will make decisions on council tax rises and finalise budgets for 2017/18, in February.