SOCIAL care costs on councils for working age and lifelong disabled adults could top £17 billion by 2030, it is estimated.

The group makes up around 40 per cent of all adult social care service-users, but 63 per cent of council budgets went towards their care in the year to March, the County Councils Network (CCN) said.

Costs of such care have risen sharply in recent years, CCN said, driven by the complexity and type of care rather than more people needing support.

In analysis published today as the CCN’s annual conference takes place, it said these costs reached an estimated £11bn last year.

CCN spokesman Martin Tett said: “The national care service risks being an empty slogan unless it is backed with a renewed focus on working-age adults, and significant increase in funding for councils to meet rising costs and ensure the quality and safety of support is maintained.”

Jackie O’Sullivan of learning disability charity Mencap said: “We are now seeing an alarmingly large number of young people transitioning to adulthood without the support they need to live independently and play a full part in their communities and society at large.

“The report highlights that you can’t fix social care without working age and disabled adults being at the heart of creating a National Care Service.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) said that the sector is “often seen primarily as a service for older people” when in reality many people needing such care are younger, working-age adults with disabilities.

A government spokesperson said it aims to establish a national care service to enhance care quality and highlighted “at least £600 million of new social care funding” and £86m more for the Disabled Facilities Grant, alongside jobcentre reforms for better employment support.