Funding boost for elderly care

An extra £4million will be spent on elderly people care next year.

North Somerset Council will spend an additional six per cent in the 2019/20 financial year, taking the total to £69.7million.

Council leader Nigel Ashton said the extra cash was the result of lobbying Government in a bid to secure the needed resources to provide for an ageing population.

He added: “Thanks to careful planning and excellent work across the council, we have been able to secure this extra funding for the financial year ahead, it’s not enough but it will certainly help.

“We are already one of the lowest-funded councils in the country and yet we are faced with a population which is growing at a higher rate than the national average.

“It will help protect the most vulnerable people in our community. We also want to provide greater support for weekend and out-of-hours assessments.”