Public Accounts Committee publishes report into Adult social care in England, as Sixth Report of Session 2014-15.
The Public Accounts Committee report finds that the Government’s agenda to change and improve adult social care, most notably through the Care Act, is rightly ambitious. However, the Committee simply does not know whether the care system has the capacity to become more efficient and spend less while continuing to absorb this increasing need for care. It notes:
- An 8% spending cut, in real terms, on adult social care between 2010/11 and 2012/13.
- local authorities cuts by paying lower fees to providers of care, which has led to very low pay for care workers, low skill levels within the workforce, and inevitably poorer levels of service for users.
- 2.2 million people have had to give up work to care for family members, at extra cost to the Government through the benefits bill. Publicly funded care makes up only a minority of the total value of care, and this proportion is decreasing. Most care is provided informally by unpaid family, friends and neighbours.
“Whilst we welcome the commitment to this agenda of the Departments involved, we are concerned that they do not fully understand the scale of the challenges facing local authorities, or the costs associated with implementing the Care Act.
The Act introduces new burdens on local authorities and requires unprecedented levels of coordinated working between central and local government and across local authorities and health bodies.”
The report makes a number of recommendations but expresses doubts about whether local authorities will be in a position to implement the timetable for the various provisions of the Care Act.
You can read the report and find out more at http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/adult-social-care-substantive/