More than £1.3 billion has been removed from councils’ annual spending on help for the over-65s since the Coalition came to power, House of Commons analysis found.
Most councils are increasing the fees they charge families for home help and meals on wheels as they attempt to plug the funding gap left by Treasury cuts, The Daily Telegraph has learned.
Campaigners for the elderly warned that more pensioners would be condemned to long stays in hospital wards and that people would be forced to give up work to look after their parents.
Ministers said there was “no excuse” for councils to target the elderly to balance their budgets, but Labour attacked the Coalition for failing to protect the most vulnerable adults in society.
The Government is considering plans to overhaul funding for care home places and home help services, which it hopes can protect pensioners from being forced to sell their homes to cover the cost of support. Cross-party talks are being held in an attempt to reach a consensus on social care funding and a White Paper setting out the Coalition’s plans is due to be published in the spring.
Last year, George Osborne, the Chancellor, promised an extra £2 billion for councils to spend on care homes, meals on wheels and help for the elderly and disabled with daily tasks such as washing and dressing.
The analysis of government figures conducted by independent researchers in the Commons Library suggested that this extra money, which was not “ring-fenced”, had not made it to the front line.
Councils have cut back on services after being forced to reduce budgets by up to 30 per cent.
In 2009-10, the last year of the Labour government, councils in England spent £7.6 billion on social care for the over-65s. This year, the inflation-adjusted figure is up to £1.3 billion lower, equivalent to a real term cut of 17 per cent.
Liz Kendall, the shadow minister for care and older people, who commissioned the research, said there was “a quiet crisis in social care” and attacked the Government’s “broken promises”.
“Older people, their carers and families are seeing services reduced, charges increased and support restricted to those only with the most critical needs,” she said.
“These cuts will cost everyone more in the long run, as older people who could remain healthy and independent in their own homes end up in hospital when they don’t need to.”
Further figures, from a survey of councils in England by the charity Age UK, found that two-thirds of local authorities were increasing the fees they charged families for services such as meals on wheels.
Councils increased the average price of a meal from £3.17 last year to £3.44. Almost half of councils were charging more this year than in 2010-11 for home care services, with average prices rising from £13.05 an hour to £13.40.
However, most are also refusing to pay more for places in private care homes. The collapse of Southern Cross, the care home operator, and the perilous position of other such firms were blamed partly on cuts in the rates that councils pay for places.
The Age UK figures showed that only one in four councils have increased the rates they pay for residential care home places this year, while only one fifth of local authorities were prepared to pay higher fees for specialist dementia and nursing homes.
Michelle Mitchell, the charity director of Age UK, said: “We know the care system is in financial crisis. We need the Government to show leadership and make the difficult but vital decisions to reform our broken care system.”
Emily Holzhausen, director of policy at Carers UK, another elderly support charity, said many were suffering from the “real terms cuts”. She said: “It is extremely worrying as we look at what the impact is on families’ lives. We know that families are already under an enormous amount of stress and that will only get worse with these cuts.”
Ministers claimed that the fault lay with local authorities, who chose how to spend their budgets.
Paul Burstow, the care services minister, said: “There is no excuse for local authorities to be cutting social care. Our decision to make up to £2 billion extra a year available to councils means they are receiving more money from the Government than ever before for social care.
“If local councils are cutting front-line services then local people should hold them to account for that decision.”
Grant Shapps, the local government minister, said it was “unacceptable” for councils to “target the elderly and vulnerable to boost their bank balances”.
“We have been quite clear that if local authorities cut out excessive chief executive pay, share back offices, join forces to procure, and root out wild overspends they can avoid raising charges,” he said.
By Tim Ross, and Robert Winnett taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/8854308/Misery-for-millions-as-elderly-care-funds-cut.html
The analysis of government figures conducted by independent researchers in the Commons Library suggested that this extra money, which was not “ring-fenced”, had not made it to the front line.
Councils have cut back on services after being forced to reduce budgets by up to 30 per cent.
In 2009-10, the last year of the Labour government, councils in England spent £7.6 billion on social care for the over-65s. This year, the inflation-adjusted figure is up to £1.3 billion lower, equivalent to a real term cut of 17 per cent.
Liz Kendall, the shadow minister for care and older people, who commissioned the research, said there was “a quiet crisis in social care” and attacked the Government’s “broken promises”.
“Older people, their carers and families are seeing services reduced, charges increased and support restricted to those only with the most critical needs,” she said.
“These cuts will cost everyone more in the long run, as older people who could remain healthy and independent in their own homes end up in hospital when they don’t need to.”
Further figures, from a survey of councils in England by the charity Age UK, found that two-thirds of local authorities were increasing the fees they charged families for services such as meals on wheels.
Councils increased the average price of a meal from £3.17 last year to £3.44. Almost half of councils were charging more this year than in 2010-11 for home care services, with average prices rising from £13.05 an hour to £13.40.
However, most are also refusing to pay more for places in private care homes. The collapse of Southern Cross, the care home operator, and the perilous position of other such firms were blamed partly on cuts in the rates that councils pay for places.
The Age UK figures showed that only one in four councils have increased the rates they pay for residential care home places this year, while only one fifth of local authorities were prepared to pay higher fees for specialist dementia and nursing homes.
Michelle Mitchell, the charity director of Age UK, said: “We know the care system is in financial crisis. We need the Government to show leadership and make the difficult but vital decisions to reform our broken care system.”
Emily Holzhausen, director of policy at Carers UK, another elderly support charity, said many were suffering from the “real terms cuts”. She said: “It is extremely worrying as we look at what the impact is on families’ lives. We know that families are already under an enormous amount of stress and that will only get worse with these cuts.”
Ministers claimed that the fault lay with local authorities, who chose how to spend their budgets.
Paul Burstow, the care services minister, said: “There is no excuse for local authorities to be cutting social care. Our decision to make up to £2 billion extra a year available to councils means they are receiving more money from the Government than ever before for social care.
“If local councils are cutting front-line services then local people should hold them to account for that decision.”
Grant Shapps, the local government minister, said it was “unacceptable” for councils to “target the elderly and vulnerable to boost their bank balances”.
“We have been quite clear that if local authorities cut out excessive chief executive pay, share back offices, join forces to procure, and root out wild overspends they can avoid raising charges,” he said.
By Tim Ross, and Robert Winnett taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/elderhealth/8854308/Misery-for-millions-as-elderly-care-funds-cut.html
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