No end in sight for social care funding trauma

A review of social care budgets produces a ‘bleak outlook’ for the sector, according to the president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

Having already been faced with a £2.68bn funding shortfall since the Government’s austerity programme began, ADASS predict that the financial pressure on services is not going to relax, estimating that adult social services will need to save another £800m over the next 12 months.

Assessing the findings of its annual survey, ADASS warn that the situation is serious enough to mean some service users will see a direct withdrawal of their provision, while reporting that almost a fifth of councils are considering a reduction to personal budgets. ADASS president Sandie Keene comments: “Gazing into the next two years, without additional investment from that already planned, an already bleak outlook becomes even bleaker.”

She continues: “Directors everywhere are well aware of the difficult economic choices the country is facing and having to make. And we are well aware of the enormous help given to our departments by inward transfers of NHS funds. Social services departments, too, have gone many an extra mile to make their services more efficient although, as our survey shows, these efficiencies are sometimes nowhere near so ‘painless’ as they sometimes seem.

“However, taking all these views and developments into consideration, it is absolutely clear that all the ingenuity and skill that we have brought to cushioning vulnerable people as far as possible from the effects of the economic circumstances cannot be stretched any further, and that some of the people we have responsibilities for may be affected by serious reductions in service – with more in the pipeline over the next two years.”

Figures from the survey also show that 45 per cent of councils have not increased fees to care homes at all over the last year, while 30 per cent of social services directors state that fewer people are now able to access services. However, only five per cent of directors believe their services are achieving a lower quality of care as a result.

Mrs Keene interprets this as follows: “Our survey this year has drawn a mixed picture of our departments. It isn’t all bad news: there is a clear belief that the pressures on services on the ground will be mitigated by the ingenuity, competence and professionalism of our staff.

“But it is equally clear that we continue to need a comprehensive reform of our social care and health system – a reform which brings in and adequately acknowledges the implications of funding change, and which successfully brings together the fully-focused and effectively integrated resources of both local authority and NHS services.”

Councillor and chair of the Local Government Association’s Community Well-being Board, Zoe Patrick, responded with her own statement to the report’s findings:

“Local authorities are already facing an estimated £1.89 billion reduction in funding to provide support for vulnerable residents. Taking a further £800 million out of the system threatens to severely impact on the vital support many older and disabled people rely on in their day-to-day lives such as basic help with washing, getting out of bed and the provision of meals on wheels.

“The stark reality is that if such vast sums of money continue to be taken out of the care system it could be in very real danger of collapse.

“The combined long term pressures of a rapidly ageing population, increasing costs and a 33 per cent cut to local government budgets means that we need an urgent injection of money to meet rising demand in the short term and radical reform of the way adult social care is paid for and delivered in future, or things will get much worse.

“Protecting the NHS budget at the expense of funding for council-run care services, which keep people out of hospitals and reduce the need for expensive treatments, is reinforcing inefficiency, costing taxpayers money and reducing the quality of care.

“For the sake of the most vulnerable members of society the Government needs to examine this issue ahead of the next spending round.”