Parliamentary inquiry into social care crisis for disabled people

A cross-party parliamentary inquiry is warning the Government that a lack of support for disabled people is having a ‘devastating’ impact, pushing them into crisis and leaving them isolated.

The inquiry, jointly chaired by Baroness Jane Campbell, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Disability Group, and Heather Wheeler MP, Chair of the Local Government All-Party Parliamentary Group, has been scrutinising the Government’s reforms of social care.

Disabled people’s voices have largely been ignored from the debate about social care reform, which has heavily focused on the needs of older people.

The Inquiry found that a chronic lack of funding means that disabled people are left to reach crisis point before they get support for the basics in life – getting up, washed, dressed, having a homecooked meal and being able to leave their homes.

The chairs argue that this has a human cost on disabled people as well as a financial cost because interventions later in the day are more expensive.

The Inquiry is recommending that cash from the ring-fenced NHS budget should be made available through Local Health and Wellbeing Boards for councils and the NHS to jointly spend on preventative social care to help stop disabled people reaching crisis in the first place.

The findings from the inquiry come ahead of the first debate on the Care Bill in the House of Lords and as discussions about dismantling the NHS ring fence gather steam.

It also follows a growing dossier of evidence that suggests the social care system for disabled people is in crisis.

Research by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) revealed that £2 billion has already been cut from council social care budgets over the past two years and a further £800 million is likely to be cut in the next year. This is despite growing demand for social care support.

Even the Prime Minister recognised the “enormous pressure on adult social care budgets”.

A Joint Committee of both houses scrutinising the draft care and support bill, which warned the Government’s plans will fail without a greater focus on prevention and integration. 

Earlier this year, five charities lifted the lid on the scale of the crisis revealing that care for disabled people was underfunded by £1.2 billion and that some 40 per cent of disabled people didn’t receive the support they needed to get up, get washed, get dressed and get out.

Responding to the findings of the APPG Inquiry, Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity, Scope said:

“Yet again we hear clear and compelling evidence of a social care system that is in crisis, having a devastating impact on disabled people’s lives.

“Disabled people are feeling isolated and living their lives without basic dignity because they don’t get the social care support they desperately need.

“Almost 40% of disabled people told us that their social care support did not meet basic needs including eating properly, washing, dressing or getting out of the house.

“There is a £1.2 billion funding gap in the basic support that disabled people need to live their lives.

“The Care Bill is a step in the right direction - but legislation alone cannot end this crisis because it does not go hand in hand with extra funding. 

“If the Government genuinely wants to deliver a fit and proper social care system that prevents disabled people from reaching crisis, it needs to ensure the Comprehensive Spending Review includes a clear settlement to tacking the chronic funding gap that exists today.”