Council services face a hammering in next year’s spending review if the soaring costs of health and care are not urgently addressed, senior central and local government chiefs have warned.

Speaking at The MJ Future Forum last week former Civil Service and Department for Communities and Local Government chief, Lord Kerslake, called for adult and children’s care to be ‘considered as a distinct conversation’ when the next government plans budgets, adding: ‘It shouldn’t be seen as part of general local government spending.’