The Care Act is failing, disability charity warns

The Care Act is failing and leaving disabled people and carers worse off, disability charity Revitalise has warned.

According to the charity, a series of freedom of information (FoI) requests revealed that 55 per cent of England’s local authorities have spent less overall on services for disabled people and carers since the Care Act came into force a year ago.

The study suggests that a total of £397 million has been cut from disabled services, with 42 per cent of local authorities reducing their spending on respite provision by an average of nearly £900,000 each.

Revitalise also found that local authorities gave fewer Needs Assessments for disabled people during the first year of the Care Act than in the year before it, with 48 per cent carrying out an average of 22 per cent fewer Carer Assessments during the same period.

Alongside the FoI requests the charity also conducted a survey of disabled people and carers. 53 per cent said that funding had been reduced or not kept pace with inflation over the past year, with 66 per cent saying they felt more isolated and 49 per cent saying the services they received had got worse.

Chris Simmonds, Revitalise chief executive, said: “For the first time in 60 years a piece of legislation has come along which purports to enshrine and protect the rights, dignity and independence of disabled people and carers, but it has become abundantly clear from our own research that the Care Act has failed to make any meaningful impact on the quality of life of the people it sets out to support – and in many respects their situation appears to have got worse. This is a tragedy.

“It is already well known that there is a massive and growing shortfall in adult social care budgets, which is expected to be around £4.3 billon by 2020, so it is hardly surprising that local authorities are struggling to implement the Care Act properly.”