Demand for Adult Social Care Hits Record High While Support from Local Authorities Drops

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The report shows that requests for adult social care had been steadily rising since 2015 but then sharply fell in 2020/21, most likely reflecting a reluctance for people to come forward for services during the Covid-19 pandemic Requests have now bounced back to reach an all-time high

The total number of new requests for support increased from 1 92 million adults in 2020/21 to 1 98 million in 2021/22 The number of new requests from working-age adults increased from 578 000 in 2020/21 to 612 000 in 2021/22 (5 8 per cent) Requests from people aged 65 and over increased from 1 34 million in 2020/21 to 1 37 million in 2021/22 (2 2 per cent)

The authors say the increase in requests from working age adults is likely to reflect increasing disability among adults aged 18-64 In 2020/21, 21 per cent of people in this age range who requested support reported living with a disability compared with 18 per cent in 2015/16 and 15 per cent in 2010/11 Among older people prevalence of disability has if anything fallen but balancing this has been an increasing number of older people in the population

NEW REQUESTS FOR CARE TO TOP 2 MILLION

Simon Bottery Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund and lead author of the report said: It s likely that local authorities will see the number of new requests for adult social care pass the two million mark for the first time this year but, on current trends, fewer people will end up receiving long-term support That means that more people will have to pay themselves rely on family and friends – or go without care entirely

Staff Vacancies Highest On Record

The report also shows that staff vacancies in the social care sector are now the highest since records began Between 2020/21 and 2021/22 the number of vacancies in adult social care rose from 110,000 to 165,000 However, while care-worker pay continues to rise due to increases in the statutory minimum wage it struggles to compete with other sectors Most services are commissioned by the local authority but provided by private sector or charitable organisations and average care-worker pay in these organisations in 2021/22 was £9 66 an hour an increase of 3 5 per cent in real terms since 2020/21

Simon Bottery explained ‘Social care providers continue to face a crisis in recruitment Vacancy rates in adult social care are higher than in the NHS and much higher than in other areas of the economy such as retail education and manufacturing A critical factor in recruitment is pay: around half of all care workers would be better off in entry level roles in England’s supermarkets

The report identifies a number of other key trends:

Local authorities are paying more for care home places and home care In real terms the average weekly fee paid by local authorities in England for care homes places for working-age adults rose by 2 5 per cent to £1 428 in 2021/22 The average weekly fee for older people s care home places increased 2 6 per cent to £767 The average hourly rate for externally commissioned home care rose 2 9 per cent to £18 88 • Total expenditure in 2021/22 was £2 6 billion more in real terms than in 2010/11 but this reflects short-term Covid-related funding – some expenditure in 2020/21 and 2021/22 was on support for the social care sector rather than individuals’ care and totals are not comparable with previous years

The number of unpaid carers receiving direct support from local authorities fell from 338,000 in 2020/21 to 314,000 in 2021/22 The number of carers receiving support has not increased since 2015/16 and fewer of them now receive paid support such as cash payments

The number of people provided with respite care has also fallen from 57 000 in 2015/16 to 33 000 in 2021/22

Simon Bottery added ‘The report shows that many of the critical indicators for adult social care are going in the wrong direction yet the government’s main reforms, such as the introduction of a cap on lifetime care costs have now been postponed until 2025 and there is little action so far on critical issues such as workforce and carers The government has an opportunity to move from words to action in its reform plan, promised for the Spring

There is an urgent need for more funding and fundamental reform of a publicly-funded social care system from which so many people are shut out ’

Cllr David Fothergill Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board said “Councils, care providers hospitals and wider health services are together working incredibly hard during this hugely challenging winter to get people discharged from hospital and home with the correct support as soon as they can However, this process is increasingly difficult with rising demand for social care and community health care workforce shortages and budgets under significant pressure

A sustainable NHS depends on a sustainable social care system Instead the social care system is suffering from long-term underfunding and high vacancy levels across the workforce inevitably impacting on social care s ability to help mitigate the demand facing the NHS –

A Walk on the Wild Side – Care Home Residents Celebrate World Wildlife Day

Staff and residents at Barchester s Collingtree Park care home in Northampton took a walk on the wild side when they celebrated UN World Wildlife Day on 3rd March

World Wildlife Day is an annual global event to celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild animals and plants World Wildlife Day 2023 is celebrated under the theme ‘Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation’ to highlight the people who are making a difference and celebrate all conservation efforts from marine life and our oceans to collaborations with businesses which are helping to reverse the loss in biodiversity on our planet through sustainability and wildlife protection

Residents had the opportunity to learn about all the different conservation efforts taking place throughout the world and throughout the UK They found out about endangered species and what is being done to protect vulnerable species of wild animals and plants To support with local British wildlife Activities coordinator Skye said: Our residents love to find out about new things many of them are very keen and knowledgeable gardeners and animal lovers so they jumped at the chance to find out more about some of the different conservation programmes taking place around the world, as well as supporting local wildlife by decorating nest feeders and planting wild flower seeds in the garden ”

Derek a resident said: I love our garden here and I can t wait until it is warm enough to sit outside again I really enjoy looking after the plants and wildlife in our garden it gives me such pleasure to watch everything grow and flourish It was wonderful to find out about the conservation programmes taking place around the world to help protect plants, trees and wildlife on World Wildlife Day ”