'Crisis in social care' as adult social services face a 'deluge' of requests

Leaders from the LGA, National Care Forum and Age UK are calling for the government to ‘fix social care’ before the summer parliamentary recess next month as a new survey shows adult social services are facing a 'deluge' of requests from older people and disabled people of working age.

The survey conducted by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has found that local councils responsible for social services are facing sharp rising numbers of people coming forward for help.

More than half (69 per cent) said people were being referred for support from the community, with almost half reporting a rise of more than 10 per cent over the last six months. Nearly two thirds (68 per cent) said more people were presenting with mental health issues with 57 per cent said more people with care and support needs were seeking help for domestic abuse or safeguarding.

Stephen Chandler, president of ADASS, said: “Some of the numbers we are seeing are phenomenal. The trends are unsustainable and show why the government must publish its plans for social care as a matter of urgency.

“Our findings demonstrate very starkly that the crisis in social care is not just a crisis in the way we support older people. Half our spending is on help for adults of working age.”

The findings point to the strain that family carers have been under during the pandemic. Of responding directors, 67 per cent said they were seeing more people seeking help because of breakdown in carer arrangements – 27 per cent reporting a rise of more than 10 per cent.

Ninety-one directors out of a total of 152 local authorities in England with adult social care responsibility completed the survey between March and April 2021.

'We call on government to bring forward its proposals'

Cllr David Fothergill, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Social care and its 1.6m strong workforce have risen to the unprecedented challenges caused by coronavirus, doing all they can to help keep those who draw upon these services safe and well.

“As this survey highlights, our recovery from the pandemic must include not only short-term help to deal with the immediate and rising demand for social care services but also secure the long-term future of how we provide and pay for care and support.

“People of all ages who draw upon and work in social care need to have certainty for the future and we call on government to bring forward its proposals, including a timetable for reform, as soon as possible and before the summer parliamentary recess.”

ADASS wants a 10-year plan for social care, in parallel with that for the NHS, and a guarantee of medium-term funding to enable social care to deal with rising need for care and support while reform is put in place.

'Social care is emerging from the pandemic severely wounded'

Vic Rayner chief executive from the National Care Forum said: “It is noted that directors of social services are seeing at the frontline the very real challenges that communities face in accessing a social care system that is desperately in need of meaningful reform. Their report also tells a tale of increasing demand, combined with real concerns about the ability of social care services to deliver the very things that people need in a COVID world. The NCF supports the call by the new ADASS president, Stephen Chandler, for a long term 10-year plan for social care.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: "As this new survey shows, councils are in no position to meet the tsunami of demands for care they now face. They were struggling to provide enough good care for their communities before the pandemic arrived, let alone now. It's also very sad to see so many councils reporting that some of the extra demand they face is the result of informal carer arrangements breaking down.

"We have warned for months now that families and friends who stepped in to provide care for their loved ones while the virus raged were reaching their physical and emotional limits and it gives us no satisfaction to be proved right.

"Social care is emerging from the pandemic severely wounded and it badly needs government to do more to help. In 2019 the Prime Minister promised to 'fix social care, once and for all' and given the rising demand for care it's more important than ever that he stands by his word."

'Without social care, the NHS would collapse'

The survey also shows the inter-dependence of social care and the NHS in the wider health and care system. Of responding directors, 48 per cent said they were being asked to support more people awaiting admission to hospital and 75 per cent said they were dealing with more people being discharged and asking for help from their local council – 55 per cent reporting a rise of more than 10 per cent in numbers of requests following discharge over the six months.

Stephen Chandler said: “Adult social care has stepped up during the pandemic and is providing care and support both for many more people who have been unable to get admission to hospital and for many more who have been discharged. Without social care, the NHS would collapse.”