George Osborne today announced that social care will benefit from a £2bn increase in funding, according to BBC News.

As reported by The BBC, it was announced that the sum will be given to social care before the end of parliament. This is particularly good news for those in social care jobs, as it wasn't known how the cuts would affect the industry.

It was already revealed that the NHS had been saved from cuts, but today it was announced that £1bn will be moved from the protected NHS budget in England to cover the costs of social care. According to The Independent, a further £1bn will come from a local government grant. The chancellor announced that total health spending will rise each year over and above inflation, from £104bn this year to £114bn over the next four years.

As reported by The Guardian, it was feared that schemes such as the government's Independent Living Fund and meals on wheels might be at risk. However, this wasn't mentioned in the speech.

"The rise in the health budget is generous compared to other departments, but it is probably the worse settlement for the NHS since the early 1980s when a one-year budget cut was followed by four small rises similar to the ones promised in the Spending Review," commented The BBC's health reporter Nick Triggle.