Your article (Adult social care services on brink of collapse, survey shows, 12 June) sets out the stark reality facing our social care sector. The report by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services is right in saying that councils cannot go on without sustainable long-term funding. Frankly, the fact that we still have councils left standing, delivering and innovating in the midst of funding shortages, is testament to the sector’s resilient leadership.
While an expected green paper offers hope of a long-term solution, there needs to be a cash injection now to get the sector through the short term, or we run the risk of services collapsing.
Squeezing council funding in this area is ultimately a false economy. One consequence of these cuts is more hospital admissions which, at an average cost of £600-£900 per night for each hospital stay, mean the taxpayer is probably paying more in real terms for over-65 care than they did in 2010.
While councils may not have the funding, they do, as the article states, “have a legal duty to ensure there is a functioning care market in their area”. They also have a more general duty of care to their residents. So what councils can do and should be doing is monitoring the level of unmet need more effectively and intervening in the market where needed. The National Audit Office has stated that only around a quarter of councils monitor unmet need, and local market oversight also needs strengthening. Better data insight that allows councils to “see” what is really happening to people and care providers in our communities, and identifies where and why people have fallen between the cracks, is urgently needed.
Councils are facing a once-in-a-generation funding challenge, and we ignore their plight at our peril.
Alex Khaldi
Partner, head of social care insights, Grant Thornton UK LLP
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