UK adult social care has 2.6% funding increase

NHS Digital has published three reports which include the latest statistics on those in receipt of adult social care in England

The reports cover a range of topics – from the feelings of those in receipt of adult social care to the latest statistics on social care activity and finance.

1. Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England 2018-19:

Almost two thirds (64.3%) of people receiving social services care during 2018-19 were very or extremely satisfied with the care and support they received – a rate that has remained stable from last year.

2.0% of service users were very or extremely dissatisfied with the care and support they received.

Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey (ASCS) England 2018-19 is an annual survey published by NHS Digital, which is conducted by Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs).

This year’s results5 found that 58.5% of service users in a residential care support setting reported feeling that they had as much social contact that they wanted with people they like.

Service users in the community reported the lowest levels of feeling that they had as much social contact as they wanted with people they like (41.9%) and the highest levels of feeling socially isolated (7.3%).

For service users that have little social contact and feel socially isolated, 36.7% felt they were extremely anxious or depressed and 16.3% reported not feeling anxious or depressed.

2. Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2018-196:

The proportion of adults with a learning disability who live in their own home or with family has increased every year for the last five years.

Figures show that 77.4% of adults with a learning disability live in their own home or with their family – up from 74.0% in 2014-15.

Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework (ASCOF) in England for 2018-19 draws on a number of data collections and measures how well care and support services achieve the outcomes that matter most to people.

The report also includes data on delayed transfers of care – with figures varying across the country.

The highest average number of delayed transfers of care was in the South East (13.0 per 100,000 population) and the lowest was in the North East (5.7 per 100,000 population).
The North West had the highest average number of delayed transfers of care that were attributable to social care (4.5 per 100,000 population) and the North East had the lowest (1.1 per 100,000 population).

3. Adult Social Care Activity and Finance report 2018-1910:

Local authorities received 1.9 million requests for adult social care support from new clients during 2018-19, which is equivalent to 5,245 requests for support received per day.

This is an increase of 3.8% since 2017-18 (when it was 1.8 million).

Local authority spending on adult social care rose to £18.7 billion in 2018-19, which is an increase of £807 million on last year. This is a cash increase of 4.5% and a real-terms increase of 2.6%.

The area of care which saw the largest increase in expenditure was long term support, which increased by £674 million to £14.6 billion in 2018-19, an increase of 4.8% in cash terms.

Overall, the number of clients receiving long term care has decreased each year from 872,520 in 2015-16 to 841,850 in 2018-19. This has mainly been driven by a decrease in clients aged 65 and over receiving long term care – down 39,060 to 548,435 since 2015-16.

The average cost of residential care for a person aged 65 and over rose from £604 per week in 2017-18 to £636 per week in 2018-19, while the average cost of nursing care for the same age band increased from £638 per week in 2017-18 to £678 per week in 2018-19.

For those aged 18 to 64, the average cost for residential care rose from £1,274 per week in 2017-18 to £1,320 per week in 2018-19, while the average cost of nursing care for the same age band increased from £921 per week in 2017-18 to £976 in 2018-19.

Read the full reports:

Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England 2018-19
Measures from the Adult Social Care Outcomes Framework 2018-19
Adult Social Care Activity and Finance report