“Care in Crisis 2014“, the third edition of their Care in Crisis report was published by Age UK last [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Age-UK-logo.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]week. This is the first update since the 2012 report and and contains the details of funding for social care in the UK.
Age UK say that the Care Bill which is currently progressing though Parliament and has just completed all its stages in the House of Commons, has addressed some of the concerns about the framework for care and support for older people. Also, the government’s commitment to transfer £3.8 billion from the NHS (Better Care Fund) for joint NHS and local council decisions about funding for health and care services from 2015 is seen as a positive move.
However this funding can only mitigate and not solve the huge reduction in the availability of services caused by a combination of the recent real term cuts in spending and the increase in demand due to demographics. Between 2005/6 and 2010/11 public funding for older people’s social care stagnated and from 2010/11 to 2013/14 public funding for older people’s social care (including transfers from the NHS to councils) decreased by 10 per cent in real terms according to the government’s Health and Social Care Information Centre. This reduction in spending in the face of increasing demand has meant that more and more councils are only providing care for those in substantial or critical need.
Without substantial growth in the overall funding envelope, says Age UK, the Government’s aspirations to “transform the social care system to focus on prevention and the needs and goals of people requiring care” cannot be achieved.
This well researched report has some excellent data and an analysis of future funding requirements which would be invaluable for anyone trying to understand the current state of the UK care scene.
Chrys
1) The link to the Care Bill is not the 3rd Reading of the Care Bill (11 March 2014) – it is a list of amendments. The Bill now goes back to the Lords for consideration of the amendments (http://bit.ly/H4WGOT).
2) The Better Care Fund reference to £3.8bn from 2015/16 is not all coming from the NHS – some of it is existing local authority funding. It is a minimum amount that will go from local authorities and the NHS into pooled funds. The latest indications are that £4.6bn could be pooled. The Better Care Fund is a reinvestment of existing funds – there is no new money. The latest news is that around £2bn of current NHS services will have to be decommissioned to go into the pool across 151 Health and Wellbeing Boards – this money could come from hospitals and other local services. Additionally, there will be a transfer of NHS funding to local authorities in 2014/15.
3) Local authorities are continuing to make substantial savings on their existing adult social care budgets (http://bit.ly/1jvdoEF).
4) The PSSRU Report (Dec 2013) http://www.pssru.ac.uk/archive/pdf/dp2867.pdf and the NAO Report (March 2014) http://bit.ly/1gsuH5Z provide authoritative coverage of the state of social care in England in addition to the HSCIC summary mentioned.
BW
@clarkmike
Mike,
Thanks for comments. I have edited the Care Bill link to the complete Bill as amended in the Public Bill Committee. The Commons amendments, I believe, go on top. The Parliament website doesn’t appear to have the final version being sent to the Lords. Thanks also for the update on the BCF – I think the AgeUK report implied it all came from the NHS.
Chrys