Care and Support Alliance Urges Leaders to Back PM’s Social Care Reform Push
Council leaders across England are being urged to unite behind calls for urgent national reform of adult social care, as new analysis reveals stark differences in what happens to people seeking care and support depending on where they live.
The CSA’s analysis reveals a stark postcode lottery in adult social care, with people’s chances of receiving support varying dramatically depending on where they live.
On average, people living in the East Midlands and South East face the greatest barriers to accessing support, with three in four (75%) requests for adult social care not leading to formal care and support. By contrast, the West Midlands has the lowest average rate, at 62%, giving people there the greatest chance of their request leading to care and support.
But the biggest differences are not between regions – they are between neighbouring councils.
In London, the proportion of requests not leading to formal care and support ranges from 30% in one borough to 91% in another—a staggering 61 percentage point gap. This means two people with similar needs living just a few miles apart can face vastly different experiences when they ask for help. Every region in England shows significant variation. Even in the North East, which has the smallest gap between councils, the proportion of requests not leading to formal care and support still ranges from 46% to 76% – a difference of 30 percentage points.
The findings also show that pressures on adult social care are widespread across the country. Even in the West Midlands, the best-performing region overall, almost two in three requests (62%) do not lead to formal care and support. Meanwhile, in the South East, one local authority recorded the highest rate in England, with 93% of requests not leading to formal care and support.
The variation reflects years of growing pressure on the social care system. Rising demand, workforce shortages, increasing costs and repeated delays to long-term reform have left councils struggling to meet need. Local factors can widen these differences further. Councils vary in their ability to raise income locally, while the way central government funding is allocated has not kept pace with changes in local populations and levels of need.
There will always be some variation between councils, reflecting differences in local communities and patterns of demand. But the scale of the differences revealed by the data raises serious questions about fairness. Whether someone receives the care and support they need should depend on their needs – not on their postcode.
The Care and Support Alliance (CSA), which represents more than 50 of the country’s leading charities, has written to local authority leaders across England, sharing data from their own area generated using their Show Us You Care local data dashboard which can be viewed : HERE and asking them to use their influence to help secure a sustainable, long-term settlement for social care.
The intervention comes at a pivotal moment for the future of care, following Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s major speech on adult social care, the launch of Baroness Casey’s Big Conversation on Care and the Government’s commitment to work across political parties to build lasting reform.
In its letter, the CSA acknowledges the immense pressure councils are under, with rising demand, increasingly complex needs, workforce shortages, growing costs and years of underinvestment leaving local authorities struggling to meet the needs of their communities.
But it warns that the consequences are being felt by older people, disabled people and unpaid carers, with people’s experiences of seeking support varying significantly depending on where they live. The CSA says the scale of variation reinforces why individual councils cannot be expected to fix the social care crisis alone.
Caroline Abrahams, Emily Holzhausen and Jackie O’Sullivan, Co-Chairs of the Care and Support Alliance said: “Council leaders know better than most the enormous pressures facing social care. Every day, councils are trying to balance rising demand, increasingly complex needs and growing costs against budgets that simply have not kept pace.
The result is a system in which people’s experiences of seeking care and support can look very different depending on where they live. That cannot be right.
“But this is not a problem councils can solve on their own. Local leaders cannot be expected to overcome decades of underinvestment or fix a fundamentally unsustainable system one council at a time.
“That is why we are writing to council leaders across England and asking them to join us in making the case for change. The only way to end this unfairness is through national action, backed by sustainable funding that enables every council to provide the care and support its community needs.
“The Prime Minister has made clear that lasting reform will only succeed if people and political leaders are prepared to work together. We welcome the launch of the Big Conversation on Care as an opportunity to build consensus about what people should be able to expect from a modern care and support system before decisions are made about how it should be funded.
“Council leaders have a vital role to play. They see these challenges every day and have an important voice within local government and across the political spectrum. We hope they will help encourage local people, unpaid carers and community organisations to take part in the Big Conversation, while continuing to make the case for the sustainable national settlement that adult social care has needed for far too long.
“The opportunity for lasting reform is here. We must not let it pass.”
The letters sent by the CSA provide local leaders with data about access to care and support in their area and highlight the wider national pressures affecting the system.
The CSA argues that while strong local leadership matters, councils are operating within a national system that has been underfunded and unreformed for years.
Some councils are better able than others to raise revenue locally, while historic funding allocations do not always reflect the needs of today’s populations. Combined with differences in demand, deprivation, workforce pressures and local care markets, this can contribute to significant variation around the country.
The CSA says the Prime Minister’s speech and the launch of the Big Conversation on Care have created a genuine opportunity to build the national consensus needed to deliver lasting reform.
In his speech, the Prime Minister committed to making social care an early priority for his Government, accelerating the Casey Commission’s timetable and working across political parties to develop a long-term settlement. He also launched the Big Conversation on Care alongside Baroness Casey, inviting people across the country to help shape the future of care and support.
The CSA is urging council leaders to seize this moment and use their collective voice to demonstrate that there is support across local government – and across political parties – for a sustainable national settlement.
