Social services chiefs have warned that more older people and citizens with disabilities will be denied state-funded care support over the next two years as local authority finances continue to take a battering from funding cuts. The scale and severity of the financial squeeze is laid bare in a survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) which shows that by April councils in England will have stripped out £2.7bn from adult social care services since 2010 – equivalent to 20% of their care budgets. Many recipients of basic state-funded care such as help with washing and eating, or meals on wheels, could face a reduced service, while others will lose out on care support altogether. ADASS says that councils are planning to make £800m in adult care savings over the next year, with £104m of this from the “direct withdrawal of services”. Michelle Mitchell, from Age UK, said the savings make “very little moral or financial sense” as social care prevents rising hospital admissions. Zoe Patrick, the head of the Local Government Association’s care board, added: “If such vast sums of money continue to be taken out of the care system it could be in very real danger of collapse.”

LGiU Daily News, 8th May