Alarming rise in adults waiting for social care, says ADASS

According to the latest survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the number of adults waiting for social care in England has risen sharply to more than 500,000.

Similar research suggests that last years figure at around 294,000, indicating a huge rise.

Sent to all of England's 152 councils, the survey included 94 responses from directors of adult social services.

In those 94 councils, thw survey concluded that 506,131 people, across England, are waiting for either: a social care assessment; care to begin, or; a review of their care.

Although 16% more hours of home care are being delivered across England, this is dwarfed by an almost sevenfold increase in hours that cannot be delivered because of a shortage of care workers.

In the first three months of this year, 170,000 hours of home care each week could not be delivered, the survey suggests.

ADASS president Sarah McClinton, who took up the post in late April, said: "We have not seen the bounce back in services after the pandemic in the way we had hoped. In fact, the situation is getting worse rather than better.

“Social care is far from fixed.  The Health and Social Care reforms go some way to tackle the issue of how much people contribute to the cost of their care, but it falls short in addressing social care’s most pressing issues: how we respond to rapidly increasing unmet need for essential care and support and resolve the workforce crisis by properly valuing care professionals."

Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said:

“These alarming findings illustrate the huge everyday challenges adult social care continues to face and the impact they have on the people who draw on care and support to live their best life.

“No council wants to have to limit or reduce care and support services, but as a result of significant financial pressures and workforce shortages, councils are having to make very difficult decisions to prioritise available resources and capacity. 

“While it is positive the Government has set out longer term reforms to adult social care, there is an urgent need to address immediate pressures facing social care in the here and now, including on capacity, recruitment and retention, care worker pay and on unmet and under-met need.

“To address this, we are calling for a greater proportion of the new health and social care levy to go directly towards social care upfront, to reflect the urgency of the situation and help deal with these immediate pressures.”