According to a recent study, the funding for social care in England must increase by more than £8bn to keep up with the demand over the next decade. It will also have to grow at a rate more than twice as fast as the last decade to improve quality and accessibility.
According to the Health Foundation, social care demand has increased dramatically among both older and younger adults. According to the estimates of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the number of people waiting for assessment of care has increased by fourfold.
According to the study, which modeled four different funding scenarios for social care, spending on this service had increased by 2.6% a year, in real terms, between 2014/15 and 2021/22. According to current spending plans by the government, a funding deficit of £600mn will be created within the next year. By 2032/33 this gap would have grown to £8.3bn.
The organisation stated that in the decade starting 2022, spending will need to rise by 3.4% per year to keep pace with projected demand growth.
The Health Foundation stated that a complete overhaul of social services to improve accessibility and meet demand will cost an additional £18,4bn in 2032/33. This represents a 6 percent increase per year, expressed in real terms, according to the Health Foundation. The Health Foundation said that this included ensuring local governments reimbursed care providers for the full costs of care.
Anita Charlesworth said that the demand for care services was increasing due to the rapidly ageing baby boomers and the growing number of older adults who are living longer because of medical advancements.
To ensure that the quality and access to care does not decline further, it would be necessary to increase funding by 30% more than we have seen in recent years and double GDP growth. . . “We have no idea where this will come from at the moment”, she continued.
She said that successive governments “kicked it down the road”, adding: “I believe our political system really struggles to cope with scale of challenge when addressing social care, and the range problems that need be solved simultaneously.”
She emphasized the increasing number of providers who were unable cover their overheads, and were at risk going bankrupt. She added that if the sector is to remain intact in a time when there is a growing need, “then we will need a comprehensive solutions,” adding that “and what clearly frightens (politicians) about that is that this comes with a cost and that no amount of reform can take away that fact.”
Beverley Tarka said that the Adass president Beverley, social care directors were facing a growing gap between their budgets, and the increasing number of people who needed increasingly complex care. This was due to inflation and rising costs. She added that continuing with the status-quo would mean “a continued slide towards an unsustainable financial position for adult social care”.
Tarka stated that the report “sent a clear message to political parties to commit to a fully funded, long-term plan for social care.”
David Fothergill is the chair of the Local Government Association Community Wellbeing Board. He said that “significant increases” in funding are needed for social care to meet future demands “let alone the ever-growing increase in current unmet or under-met needs”. He called on the Government to address this issue in its Autumn Statement in November.
The government stated that it is “fully committed” to its 10-year vision for reforming adult social care. The government said it was “fully committed to our 10-year vision to reform adult social care”.