The King’s fund have just published their annual “Social Care 360” report, which you can read in full (plus access previous editions of the report) on their website.
According to the report, the key trends in adult social care in England are:
- Requests: More people, particularly working-age adults, are requesting support
- Receipt of care: The number of people receiving long-term care has fallen again
- Eligibility: Financial eligibility is tighter and reform has been put back
- Spending: Total expenditure has increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic and is now higher than in 2010/11
- Costs: Local authorities are paying more for care home places and home care.
- Capacity: The total number of care home places has declined slightly
- Vacancies: The staff vacancy rate is the highest since records began
- Pay: Care-worker pay continues to rise but struggles to compete with other sectors
- Carers: Fewer unpaid carers now receive paid support and respite care has also fallen
- Quality: Quality is largely stable but fewer ratings were published during Covid-19
- Personalisation: Fewer people receive direct payments
- Satisfaction: Satisfaction of people using services is edging downward
Read the full report on their website.
