Council chiefs warn of adult care waiting lists amid budget squeeze
Councils face tough decisions around maintaining care and support services as financial pressures demands further savings from adult social care, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) have warned.
New data published by Adass shows at least a third of adult social care leaders in England need to find another £83.7m of cuts heading into winter, on top of the £806m in savings directors across England committed to make in their budgets this year.
The true cost of social care for local councils is likely to be even higher, because the cost of providing care to all of those people who need it is not included in the current projections. At present there are nearly a quarter of a million people waiting for their care needs to be assessed and a significant number of them are likely to be entitled to some form of council funded social care, whether short-term support or long-term care.
The autumn survey also reveals an eight percent increase to waiting lists with 470,000 older and disabled people either waiting for care to start, direct payments or their care needs assessed. While this is down 20,000 since last autumn, it is still unacceptably high and reflects the continuing challenges around recruitment and retention of care staff.
All council services are under pressure to find savings as costs and demand pressures continue to rise – analysis from the LGA found that councils in England face a funding gap of £4bn over the next two years, which is a £1bn increase since the LGA’s initial analysis in July. It also shows that by 2024/25 cost and demand pressures will have added £15bn (almost 29%) to the cost of delivering council services since 2021/22.
Adass president Beverley Tarka said: ‘Without the extra funds the government has invested in adult social care this year, we’d be in an even worse place. But what this survey shows is while that’s stopped the ship sinking, it hasn’t moved us out of the storm we’re trying to navigate.
‘Social care leaders and their teams are struggling to find savings and meet people’s needs at least minimally, but they can’t perform miracles from already overstretched budgets. Thousands of people are waiting for their council to assess their care needs and some of these people will reach crisis point and end up in hospital this winter, because they haven’t got the support they need in time.
‘Ahead of the Autumn Statement, we are calling on government to provide an additional £900m to stabilise adult social care, helping us to recruit and retain more care workers and support more people that need care and support now.
‘In the longer term we need a fully funded plan for social care which takes account of the true cost of essential social care. We ask that the government demonstrate that it values the lives of all of us, not least people needing and working in social care. Older and disabled people, people from poorer and culturally diverse communities, carers, people with mental ill health, those experiencing domestic abuse and the largely female workforce, are leading restricted or foreshortened lives, when social care can support gloriously ordinary lives.’
David Fothergill, chairman of the LGA’s community wellbeing board, said: ‘Councils are facing severe funding and demand pressures, meaning finances are under strain like never before.
‘The easy savings have long since gone. Councils are being faced with tough decisions about cutting valued services, increasing council tax and fees and charges during a cost-of-living crisis.
‘Immediate investment is needed in the autumn statement in order to address unmet and under-met need and ensure timely access to social care for all who need it.’
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