Adult social care spending still down on 2010 figures – TUC report

Tue,8 September 2020
News Health & Social Care

Annual adult social care spending in England is still £600m lower than in 2010, according to new analysis published by the TUC. 

In 112 of the 150 local authorities analysed, social care spending per head of the population is still lower than that in 2010. 

Spending per head is 8% below the level in 2010 for England overall. 

In his first speech as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson promised to ‘fix the crisis in social care once and for all’ but plans have yet to be revealed.

The TUC report, Fixing social care: better quality services and jobs outlines the problems resulting in the denial of high quality social care and calls for improvements for both those who work in it and those who use it.

The report also claims that most care homes are run privately for profit, this directs public funds away from service users and squeezes pay and conditions for staff. Almost a quarter of social care staff have a zero-hours contract and 7 in 10 are paid less than £10 per hour. The sector has around 120,000 unfilled vacancies and an annual staff turnover rate of 31%. 

DR UK’s Fazilet Hadi said: “Again, this report highlights the serious lack of funding in social care and the urgent need for the government to take action.

“Society cannot rely on the ad hoc provision of informal care from family and friends.

“We are looking at a 49% increase in people aged over 65 by 2040. The system is already broken now. If nothing substantial is done, in twenty years, the outcomes for disabled people and older people are unimaginable.

“If the government is serious about the National Disability Strategy, we expect to see major investment in the forthcoming Spending Review.”