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As the incoming Government restates its commitment to creating a National Care Service, new CSA analysis reveals the massive postcode lottery for care facing the public today
July 23, 2024
Your chances of getting vital life changing care if you need it vary hugely across England in what is a shocking postcode lottery. This is the stark finding of research by the Care and Support Alliance (CSA) which represents more than 60 leading charities campaigning for decent care for all those who need it and their unpaid carers.
The research shows that across England, you have the greatest chance overall of having your request for care accepted if you live in North East, and the lowest if you are in the West Midlands. However, within all regions there are big variations between local authorities: if you need care and support to help you live your daily life, your chance of having your request refused varies from 85% in some local authority areas to 12% in others. In London for example, the rates of requests being rejected by local authorities within just a few miles of each other range from 84% to just 20%.
The greatest variation within regions is in London, where there is an enormous 64% gap between local authorities in the rate of requests for care being declined. The least variation is in the East Midlands, but this still stands at a significant 31%.
Click here to find out about care in your area
The CSA says that these extreme variations are the result of a perfect storm at a national level of rising demand for care, rising costs, regionally specific recruitment and workforce challenges and strained local authority budgets, all compounded by years of delays to social care reform.
In addition, there are local factors which can amplify the variation. Some councils are better able to raise revenue locally than others, to help them compensate for the cuts in central Government funding they have experienced over the years. Added to this, the way funding is allocated to local authorities hasn’t been updated for some years, meaning the allocations no longer always reflect the needs of the current local population. Local authority duties to provide social care are set out in law and a person with a given level of need and resources ought to receive a broadly similar response everywhere, but at the moment this is clearly far from the case.
The analysis is released as a new CSA tool is launched which shows people how national government inaction on social care is having a real impact in their area, inviting them to join its campaign: https://act.careandsupportalliance.com/page/151615/action/1
The CSA is urging the new Government to urgently get to grips with the desperate problems individuals and families are facing accessing social care. It must act quickly so older and disabled people can get the care they need. Good social care supports people to live their lives: to get up and out, work, see the people they love, be independent. Yet currently at least 2.6 million* people go without the care they need.
CSA calls for removal of charging for working-age disabled people
June 14, 2024
Remove social care charging entirely for working-aged disabled adults, so they don’t have to part-fund their care from state benefits designed to pay for daily living costs, like food and heating.
One of the specific asks of the Care and Support Alliance, representing over 50 social care and disability charities, is for the next Government to remove social care charging entirely for working-aged disabled adults. Here Jackie O’Sullivan, co-Chair of the Alliance, and acting CEO of Mencap explains why.
It is a common misunderstanding that social care, which supports people to live independently, is free for all those who need it. Sadly, this is not the case. The vast majority of people who need support with daily tasks such as washing, getting dressed, eating or going shopping, will pay for their care. At the CSA, we have been campaigning for social care to be properly funded, so that everyone who needs it can access the care they need without worrying about the cost.
Much of the debate around social care charging revolves around questions of how much older people should be asked to contribute from their assets and/or savings. However, many working-aged disabled adults are also charged for their social care – even where they have no assets and receive no income other than benefits. For this group, the money they receive in benefits can be clawed back by local authorities to part-pay for their social care down to a minimum level or Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG). This MIG sets out the minimum amount of income per week a person must be left with: for older people this is at least £228.70, for adults between the ages of 25 and pension credit age it is £110.60 and for adults aged 18-24 it is just £87.65.
To compound the unfairness, employment income is exempt, which means that the people who rely on benefits are the ones who are penalised the most.
Despite most people wanting to, not every disabled person is able to work, and there aren’t enough employment support programmes to help tackle this. So, given the low rates of employment among disabled people (only 5% of people with a learning disability are in work), this policy causes hardship and poverty. To compound matters, Minimum Income Guarantee rates have only been uprated twice since 2016. Meanwhile, Local Authorities have to spend time and money on assessing people, chasing payments – and even prosecuting people. Imagine how scary this is for people! You’re on a very low income and struggling to pay the bills as it is and then suddenly, you are slapped with a huge bill and threatened with court if you don’t pay up.
A relatively easy win for any new Government would be to end this sort of charging altogether – and that is why it is included in our campaign asks alongside other measures which will directly benefit older people, unpaid carers and care workers.
50+ Charities Urge Party Leaders to Prioritise Social Care
June 5, 2024
For social care, it’s time for action, not words.
Decades of underfunding and lack of action have left social care in a shocking state, and at least, 2.6m people can’t get the care they need. The Care and Support Alliance (CSA) which has more than 50 member organisations, is asking party leaders to prioritise social care in the next parliament.
When it works well, social care changes lives. It enables people to live the lives they choose: to socialise, work and volunteer, and to stay independent. It allows unpaid carers to balance caring with other aspects of their lives.
“Since being granted 24/7 care, my daughter was able to leave to go to university. I’ve joined a community choir. I go swimming and to the gym. I can make plans with friends. I feel like I have a future as opposed to the years that I had spent barely existing.”
– Rachel
Everyone should be able to access the care they need to live happy and fulfilling lives. Real leadership and action from the next government is the only way that millions of older people, disabled people and their carers can get it.
Read the full text of the open letter:
CSA responds to Local Government Settlements
February 2, 2024
“Today’s local government settlement owes a lot more to the Grinch than to Santa Claus since across the political spectrum local government leaders are clear that it simply isn’t enough to keep pace with the rising costs of and demand for adults’ and children’s social care. Unfortunately this suggests that 2024/5 will be another incredibly tough year, with hundreds of thousands of disabled adults and older people set to miss out on the high quality support they need, and with serious knock on consequences for their unpaid carers, who will be left to try to fill the gap. This is deeply unfair on people who give a lot and ask for very little in return, and it will also undermine the national effort to increase economic productivity if growing numbers have to give up work in mid-life because of a lack of formal care services to help their loved ones.
“Nearly half a million older and disabled people in England are waiting for care, a direct payment or for their care needs to be assessed. These figures will now get worse, and behind every one of them there are individual stories of our fellow citizens struggling and often failing to live a good and decent life, since without the care they need older people are unable to do the basics like prepare meals and take their medication, or, in the case of many disabled people, work, train and enjoy the company of friends.
“It’s also the last thing the NHS wanted to hear about the coming year, given the co-dependence between Health and Social Care. Unless and until we give social care the resources it needs the NHS will always have one hand tied behind its back in tackling delayed discharges and long waiting lists.”
Caroline Abrahams, Care and Support Alliance Co-Chair
CSA responds to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement
“With this Autumn Statement the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has gone from hero to zero on social care. Last year we applauded him when he ordered a significant increase in funding to keep services from collapsing but this year, despite clear warnings from local government about the likelihood of further cuts to care, he has offered nothing. And what’s more, even though the rise in minimum wage is thoroughly welcome and deserved, without additional funding the cost of providing, or buying social care, will be going up.
“Meanwhile, nearly half a million older and disabled people in England are waiting for care, a direct payment or for their care needs to be assessed, and with care services so shaky the pressure is constantly increasing on unpaid carers to fill the gap. All these figures will now get worse, and behind every one of them there are individual stories of older people struggling and often failing to live a good and decent life, since without the care they need they are unable to do the basics like prepare meals and take their medication, or, in the case of many disabled people, work, train and enjoy the company of friends.
“Boris Johnson was cheered by his colleagues when he pledged to ‘fix the crisis in social care’ some four and a half years ago but today’s Statement was a reminder of how desperately short the Government has fallen. Transformational reform is still badly needed in social care, but for now the prospect of it has disappeared out of sight, and millions of older and disabled people, and their unpaid carers, are paying a very high price.”
Caroline Abrahams, Care and Support Alliance Co-Chair
