Government spending has failed to keep pace with demographic changes

Almost half a million people have lost their right to social care since 2008, research suggests.

A report commissioned by the Care and Support Alliance, a consortium of over 70 organisations that represent older and disabled people, found that the number of people receiving social care has fallen five years in a row by a total of 347,000.

The figure includes 250,000 fewer older people and 97,000 fewer disabled people.

However, the report said these figures do not take account of the social and demographic changes that have occurred in England over the past five years.

Taking into account population growth and aging, the research suggests that 483,000 people lost their right to care within five years.

Government expenditure on social care has remained fairly static but there has been a real terms decrease of £210m. Government spending would have had to rise by £1.61bn just to keep pace with demographic change, the analysis by the Political and Social Sciences Research Unit and the London School of Economics suggests.

The Care and Support Alliance said the current underfunding of care is forcing the government to set the new eligibility threshold contained in the Care Bill too high. This means those adults who are or will be unable to carry out several personal care tasks will not be eligible for social care.

“This will continue to exclude the 500,000 thousand older and disabled people identified in this report from receiving social care.  Furthermore, it means that over 300,000 older people with care needs will continue to pay for their own social care without this counting towards the new ‘cap’ on care costs, as introduced by the Bill,” the report said.

The alliance said the government should invest on a new national eligibility threshold which “properly captures those with significant care needs”.