Older people and people with disabilities finding it hard to get state funded care
- 17 Mar
Social services leaders are concerned that a funding gap of £7bn a year is likely to leave people with vulnerabilities paying for their own care and support by the end of next parliament.
Social services leaders are warning that many people with disabilities or older people with care needs are facing the challenge of having to pay for their own support at the end of the next parliament unless spending priorities are changed.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services have said that Sustaining state-funded adult social care services in some parts of England could become "almost impossible" unless funding is protected and aligned with NHS budgets, reports the Guardian.
These warnings have occurred after it emerged that the Department of Health is predicting a funding gap of up to £7bn a year in adult social care by the end of the decade.
The number of adults receiving state-funded social care plummeted by almost 250,000 over the four years to 2012-13. At least £10bn was spent by people paying for their own care and support, compared to £14bn spent by councils.
David Pearson, Adass's president, said there were parts of the country where more people bought their own care than were state-funded and it was "likely" that would be the case nationally by 2020 if government policy continued unchanged.
"Adult social care is at a crossroads," Pearson said. "As a country we need to be ambitious for care and recognise that protecting the NHS means protecting adult social care too. There are choices. And there are consequences of those choices. There is a danger that, in some parts of the country, sustaining social care services as we have known them will become almost impossible."
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