Future of adult social services unsustainable despite 'Herculean success' of staff

Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) annual budget survey released today has revealed a 1.9 per cent reduction in spending in social care services in 2014/15.

ADASS president David Pearson commended the continuing work being done by social care staff, describing their ‘Herculean success’ in ensuring service continues to meet customer satisfaction levels despite ‘substantial financial burdens.’

The survey, returned by 95 per cent of adult social services departments, revealed nearly half of social care directors think fewer people will be able to access care services in the future and over half feel care providers are facing financial difficulty.

ADASS president David Pearson said: “In March this year the National Audit Office said that ‘need for care is rising while public spending is falling, and there is unmet need. Departments do not know if we are approaching the limits of the capacity of the system to continue to absorb these pressures.’ Our survey shows beyond doubt that we have reached the point where, as the NAO feared, we are unable to absorb the pressures they, and our survey, have identified.

Real term cuts

The 1.9 per cent reductions, which equate to £226m, indicates the third year social services has seen spending reductions, and this is the fifth year of real terms cuts.

Mr Pearson said: “Since 2010 spending on social care has fallen by 12 per cent at a time when the number of those looking for support has increased by 14 per cent. This has forced departments to make savings of 26 per cent in their budgets – the equivalent of £3.53 billion over the last four years Nothing can be starker than the truth these figures point to.”

Nearly 60 per cent of adult social services departments feel there will be increased costly legal challenges in the future and half feel cuts in spending will result in a decrease in personal budgets.

Mr Pearson said: “Let nobody underestimate how hard we have all worked – adult social services departments alongside central and local government politicians – to minimise the damage that our current austerity might do to the vulnerable people for whom we have responsibilities.

“Joining up care and health services is the right thing to do. But any financial benefits are likely to be far outstripped by the sheer scale of the reductions in funding.

“It is not directors’ jobs, but that of the country as a whole and its politicians, to debate how much, in times of the most severe adversity, vulnerable people should be protected from the consequences of that adversity by the introduction of new money into social care.”

Mr Merrick Cockell, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), said:

“This report helpfully outlines the scale of the issue facing social care. Our population is ageing and demand for adult social care services will only continue to grow.

Make or break

Mr Cockell wants the Government to commit to a bigger Better Care Fund for the next five years to ensure better joined up care is provided between health and social care to offer less costly support.

He continued: “Next year will be a make or break for local services provided by councils and for the NHS and it will be the most vulnerable families and older people in our communities that will feel the brunt of such a severely underfunded service.

“Less money in social care will have an inevitable impact on councils’ ability to relieve the pressure on a similarly squeezed NHS by keeping people out of hospital and in the community.

“Too many older people are being let down by a broken system which leaves them languishing in hospital beds while they wait for an alternative, or consigned to residential care because we lack the capacity to help them live independently.”

Leonard Cheshire Disability reacted to the survey by expressing fears over the continuation in some councils to use 15-minute home care visits, despite the widespread criticism this care method has recently experienced.

15 minutes not enough

Clare Pelham, chief executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability said: "These findings are disturbing. If one disabled or older person endures a 15-minute flying personal care visit, that’s one too many.

“The Government must ban these visits now for helping someone to go to the loo, wash, dress or do any other personal care. And we need more councils to join the heroic few who have shown they care by stopping 15-minute personal care visits entirely.

“Every year, half a million people become disabled in a car accident or by a stroke or through illnesses like MS or Parkinson’s. Disabled people deserve proper care, which can't be done by the clock in 15-minute slots.

“And of course the funding councils receive must reflect the needs of the people they support. That’s what we all want for our families, our friends and the people we love.”