NORTH Yorkshire County Council has urged the Government to improve funding for adult social care in the region.

Ahead of a forthcoming Green Paper, the county council said it faced enormous pressure in the delivery of social care services, and has repeated its plea to the Government to establish sustainable funding and organisational arrangements.

Despite £5million of additional funding for adult social care being raised through the two per cent social care precept in the council tax, the council said pressures were unrelenting and the county council expects a £3million overspend this year alone.

The Government’s Green Paper, which will be published next summer, will set out major changes to adult social care, which it said would ensure a more effective and sustainable system.

North Yorkshire spends 42 per cent of its budget on looking after older people and vulnerable adults, and prioritises spending in all areas that deal with vulnerable people, both young and old, but said the demands on the budget continued to grow.

There are currently 140,000 of the 600,000 people in North Yorkshire who are aged 65 or older, and 13.5 per cent (19,000), are aged over 85. This number is projected to increase dramatically in future years, and national studies show North Yorkshire is already at a place where the rest of the country will be in 2020, with demand for services and demographic trends five years ahead of the national average

County councillor Michael Harrison, Executive member for adult social care and health integration, said: "We urgently need a long-term and sustainable solution for the care of older and vulnerable people.

"North Yorkshire is calling on the Chancellor, when he delivers his budget, to provide fairer funding for rural authorities - given the higher numbers of older people, and the higher costs of delivering services in a large rural county with sparse populations."

Richard Webb, North Yorkshire’s corporate director for health and adult services said while the focus on older people in the Green Paper was welcome, issues for carers and for younger adults with disabilities and mental health also needed to be addressed.