Social care is at the 'centre of a storm' as winter approaches, warns ADASS

With over half (54 per cent) of adult social care directors saying they have overspent on social care budgets last year and with a predicted inflation rate rise of 11 per cent by the end of the year, a new report warns this will create an even bigger hole in council finances.

According to the ADASS Spring Survey 2022, directors are expected to deliver £597m in savings to their budgets for this year (2022/23), meaning they have to find £1.8bn in savings over the last three years. However, only a quarter of directors are fully confident they can deliver the expected savings this year and six per cent say they have no confidence.

Additionally, seven in 10 directors say care providers in their area have closed, ceased trading or handed back contracts to local councils and many more cannot deliver the increased care and support needed due to staffing shortfalls.

Sarah McClinton, ADASS President, said: “Adult social care has long been in a fragile state, but growing economic turbulence is rapidly deepening our problems and concerns. We are at the centre of the storm. Those who need or work in care are amongst the most exposed to the cost-of-living crisis.

“A growing number of directors tell us that they have never been more concerned than they are about the winter to come. We need action and funding now to support recovery in social care, just as in the NHS, and build firmer foundations for the reforms we all want to see.”

'Boris Johnson promised to get social care done but didn’t'

The Spring Survey also shows nine out of ten directors said recruitment and retention was a major driver of costs in home care, and 85 per cent for residential and nursing care. 76 per cent said pay rises and recruitment difficulties were driving up costs in care at home and 68 per cent in residential and nursing care.

The Independent Care Group (ICG) warns that long-term austerity, Covid, spiralling costs and the care staffing crisis are combining to create the most challenging year ahead the sector has ever faced.

Chair of the ICG, Mike Padgham said: “[ADASS] are reporting increases in demand but at the same time 70 per cent of them are reporting the closure of care providers or handed back contracts in their areas.

“This cannot go on. Boris Johnson promised to get social care done but then didn’t.

“And now we have the four final contenders blatantly ignoring social care at every turn.

“The care that we expect for our loved ones is simply not going to be there anymore and the candidates’ silence this week is unacceptable.

“We praise ADASS for publishing this warning today and hope that it prompts some action.”

'We face the most difficult winter we have ever experienced'

The report also shows 82 per cent of councils reported an increase in referrals of people discharged from hospital, 74 per cent are recording more referrals and requests for support from the community and over half are recording more referrals and requests because of the lack of other services in the community.

There is also a concern about the position and experiences of unpaid carers. Nearly half of directors are not confident that unpaid carers will be able to cope financially with the cost-of-living crisis and three quarters believe this will result in increased need for social care.

Of equal concern, 73 per cent of directors report rising numbers of cases of breakdown of unpaid carer arrangements.

in addition, the report also shows that 87 per cent of directors say more people are seeking support because of mental health issues and 67 per cent are seeing more people because of domestic abuse and safeguarding concerns.

Cathie Williams, ADASS’s chief executive said: “Our health and social care services are in jeopardy. Without immediate and substantial help from the government, we face the most difficult winter we have ever experienced during which more people will miss out on vital care, others will wait longer for support and choice and quality will decline still further.

“Measures so far to ‘fix’ social care simply do not address the scale of current funding and workforce challenges and are crying out for a long-term, properly funded plan.”

'Bleak picture painted'

The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) have also warned the increasing levels of unmet need, mounting workforce pressures, and a failure by government to provide sufficient financial resources contribute to the "bleak picture painted" by directors of adult social care services.

Dr Rhidian Hughes, chief executive of VODG said: “Chief executives of disability charities are telling me that the soaring financial costs of provision are not being matched by funding local authorities. This is all having a direct impact on services, and it is the people who draw on, or who are in need of social care, whose lives will be disproportionately affected.

“As ADASS has highlighted, the next 12 months were always going to be challenging given wider unprecedented external cost pressures. Urgent attention to these recommendations is, therefore, required immediately. We need the forthcoming leadership of government, through the role of a new Prime Minister and Cabinet, to grasp social care and put our essential services on a sustainable footing.”