Latest Figures Released On Local Councils’ Adult Social Care Spending

New official figures have been published today which outline the total money spent by local authorities on adult social care.

Personal Social Services: Expenditure and Unit Costs, England 2015-16 is published by NHS Digital and collects data from the 152 local authorities across England, which are responsible for adult social services.

The report relates to the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016 and is used by central government for public accountability, policy monitoring and national accounts, and by local authorities to assess their performance in relation to one another.

The detailed analysis includes the gross current expenditure for all local authorities in England, as well as a breakdown of each individual council’s social care spends. It also breaks down short and long term support, the expenditure by primary support reason and the type of service being accessed.

Also included are unit costs, which give an average cost per person per week for residential care, nursing care and short term care to maximise independence, broken down by age group and primary support reasons.

This is the first time that the report has included information on deferred payment agreements. However, these figures are experimental and caution is advised when interpreting this information as data completeness is currently low.

The full report is available at: http://digital.nhs.uk/pubs/pssexpcosts1516