Local authorities have no excuse to cut adult social care despite the government announcing cuts of 26 per cent to councils' over the next four years, according to Care Services minister Paul Burstow.

Mr Burstow says that the extra £2bn in annual funding for adult care is enough to provide councils with the resources needed to maintain the current level of care services. He claims that despite speculation over the effects of the spending review, the funding will mean that local authorities will be able to continue funding social care jobs in their areas.

As reported by Community Care, none of the £2bn has been ring-fenced for social care. Instead, half of it has been rolled into councils' overall grant funding from government and the other half has been given to the NHS to spend on social cares such as re-ablement services. Despite this there has been no indication that NHS commissioners will be forced to spend the money on these services.

"There is no justification for local authorities to slash and burn or for local authorities to tighten eligibility as far as the settlement goes," Mr Burstow said.

Leaders and those in social care management jobs have welcomed the funding announcement made by chancellor George Osborne. However, they have warned that the extra funding is unlikely to help councils cope with demographic pressures which are estimated to add 4 per cent annually to the cost of social care.

They added that it was also unlikely the extra funding would be a significant aid to councils trying to manage the cuts, but Mr Burstow disagreed claiming the extra money would give councils "the wherewithal to meet the demographic pressures."