CRITICISM has been aimed at Gloucestershire County Council for its ‘lack of action’ regarding issues with social care.

Gloucestershire Labour has condemned the council’s Conservative administration over its ‘slow efforts’ to ‘solve the social care crisis’ in the county.

The opposition group will challenge the cabinet at the next full council meeting on February 15 over their spending decisions for the upcoming year.

This following the news that over £200,000 of tax payer’s money has been spent to prevent sensitive details of the controversial Javelin Park incinerator contract being released, before they were accidently leaked thanks to a council blunder.

County councillor Lesley Williams (Stonehouse), leader of Gloucestershire Labour, said: “I am concerned that for another year the social care crisis will continue without any real effort to solve it.

“The Tories will have raised around £10m by 2018 to deal with the issue yet it’s getting worse, not better.

“If we can’t trust them to get this right, what can we trust them with?

“We have fantastic front line staff who need the trust, the funding, and the training to get on with the job; unfortunately the only road block is the council’s lack of action.”

County councillor Barry Kirby (Grange and Kingsway), deputy leader of Gloucestershire Labour, said: “If this administration is not willing to do the hard work then they should step aside and let others try and fix the big issues.

“Regrettably, for residents it seems they have been on cruise-control for the last couple of years, and it’s beginning to show.”

Last week GCC promised to add more than £5.5million to its budget to help vulnerable people.

Over 1,000 residents responded to a consultation on next year’s annual budget, with 93 per cent feeling support for the most vulnerable needed improving, according to GCC.

The feedback was then used to update the draft budget, with an extra £4.4m for older people and £1.52m for vulnerable families, young people and children to be added.

What’s more, around £2million is set to be spent on helping people struggling with mental health, including dementia, as well as tackling domestic abuse, preventing family breakdown, supporting vulnerable women and foster care.

The council has said that 79 per cent of people who took part in the consultation supported the budget proposals, which included incorporating a 1.99 per cent council tax increase plus an adult social care levy of two per cent on top.

Dorcas Binns, cabinet member for adult care, said: "For the last six years in Gloucestershire we’ve consistently protected social care, as part of our focus on the most vulnerable people in our county. 

"That required difficult decisions across the whole of the council’s budget – which Labour and the Liberal Democrats refused to support.  

"Thanks to the work the Conservatives have done, social care in Gloucestershire is in a much better position than elsewhere – with, for example, low levels of 'bed blocking' in hospitals. 

"We’re continuing to protect the most vulnerable in this year’s budget, with an extra £4.3m for social care – alongside other key investments, like £6m extra for county roads.   

"Every councillor has a say on the budget, and if Labour want to propose changes, of course we’ll look at them closely.”