Nine in ten adult social services directors in England do not believe there is sufficient funding or adequate staffing to meet care costs this winter, according to an analysis by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS).
The survey outlined that rising costs due to inflation are adding a further layer of pressure on adult social care providers. It reported that most local authorities will struggle to deal with the failure of care providers this winter, with 75% of directors indicating that they could not manage if a large provider were to fail.
Cathie Williams, ADASS’s chief executive, said: “This is the bleakest autumn survey we have ever had. Only a handful of directors have any confidence they may be able to get through the winter with the funding they have and the care workers available locally.
“We were fearful in the summer; we are fearful now. This affects all of us.
“The £500m discharge fund will not solve this, when it is finally distributed – and it is urgently needed. We desperately need another significant injection of emergency funding to provide more help for people at home.”
The survey also detailed that, despite growing requests and more people waiting for different aspects of adult social care, directors are expected to make additional savings in their budgets of £113m this year and an estimated £1.3bn in 2023/24.
This comes ahead of the Autumn Statement on 17 November, which will set out spending cuts and could postpone the introduction of the adult social care reforms.
“If the chancellor is going to postpone next year’s charging reforms, he must ensure that the cash already allocated for them is re-purposed to bring forward other measures that have an immediate impact on the ground so that more older and disabled people get the care and support they need,” Williams added.
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