After a year of Labour Government, legal rights charity Access Social Care have published their annual State of the Nation report, a data collaboration project spotlighting the emerging themes in social care advice provision.
Access Social Care’s annual State of the Nation report offers a detailed, evidence-based picture of the adult social care system in England, drawing on a wide range of data sources and real-life experiences.
The charity works in collaboration with a network of partner organisations, including local authorities and charities such as Mencap, Scope, Age UK and Citizens Advice. These partnerships allow the organisation to collect and analyse a broad spectrum of experiences and data, shining a light on the major issues the sector is facing.
This year’s report reveals that in 2024–25, there was a 45.6% increase in safeguarding-related advice provision compared to the previous year, and a 28.2% rise compared to the report’s baseline year of 2019/20.
A notable trend among the advice being sought is that just a few years ago the majority of queries related to abuse perpetrated by a third party, whereas these days there is a higher proportion of queries relating to self-harm or suicide.
In a similar vein there were:
- 16.6% more advice provision identifying the need for specialist legal advice
- 10.7% more general social care advice queries within our information seeking category
- 7.5% increase in people receiving advice about social care through helplines
- 8.6% more direct payment queries
- 7.3% more unpaid carer queries
- 62.9% more advice provision on mental capacity queries
The report considers that over the past year, Labour’s approach to social care has been shaped by three key themes: fiscal restraint, structural ambition without adequate funding and workforce reform efforts that remain underfunded.
It is also suggested that the Government’s decisions appear driven more by wider political goals than by the specific needs of the social care sector. Measures such as the increase in National Insurance contributions and the closure of the overseas care worker visa route have placed significant financial and staffing pressures on care providers, while planned reforms like the care cost cap have been withdrawn.
The report recognises that Baroness Casey – who is to lead the independent commission into social care – is ‘a recognised talent, willing to speak out for positive change,’ but rails against the idea that its final report is not due until 2028.
(As an aside, the report is likely to be published as a general election looms, ‘the worst possible time to have a grown-up cross-party conversation about how to fund social care’ as Nick Davies wrote earlier this year)
Kari Gerstheimer, CEO of Access Social Care said: ‘One year in, our data shows that rather than Labour turning the tide, safeguarding concerns have surged by 45%. This is a devastating marker of a system under extreme strain, where under-resourced services are failing to provide the social care we all need.
‘The government’s policy decisions—particularly around National Insurance and wage uplifts – risk adding billions in costs to the sector without matching investment. We cannot reform social care with rhetoric.
‘We urge the Casey Commission to break the cycle of delay and to seek full access to government data so it can deliver the bold, evidence-based solutions that people so desperately need. This is not only about budgets—it’s about rights, safety, and dignity.’
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