Voluntary providers have urged Whitehall to shore up the ‘fragile social care system’ as local authorities table £700m worth of savings this financial year.
A new report from the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) outlines what it describes as ‘a growing threat to the nation’s vital care and support services.’
Entitled A Stitch in Time: the case for funding social care, the report shows that councils’ planned savings for adult social care in 2018/19 are £700m.
In total, adult social care savings since 2010 have amounted to £7bn.
Voluntary and not-for-profit providers predominantly serve publicly-funded clients so are disproportionately affected by adult social care budget cuts, VODG says.
Brexit is also likely to exacerbate the threat to social care, A Stitch in Time says, because the likely economic impact may lead to less public funding and potentially create instability in the sector’s labour market.
‘Social care is a vital public service but is a victim of a triple whammy of squeezed funding, increasing demand and increasing costs,’ VODG chief executive Dr Rhidian Hughes said.
‘This impacts on disabled people and adversely affects other public sector services such as the NHS. Our ageing and growing population means there’s a growing need for social care for disabled and older people.
‘It’s not too late for Government to improve the fragile state of the adult social care system and to safeguard existing and future support for people who rely on care services.’
Responding to VODG’s report, Cllr Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Community Wellbeing board, said: ‘Over recent years, councils have protected adult social care relative to other services. But the scale of the overall funding picture for local government as a whole means adult social care services still face a £3.5bn funding gap by 2025, just to maintain existing standards of care.
‘The likely consequences of this are more and more people being unable to get quality and reliable care and support, which enables them to live more fulfilling lives.’