ADASS SURVEYS

Over recent months, ADASS has conducted a number of member surveys which have focused on different aspects of care, support and safeguards. Together these reports paint a picture of current challenges and the vital work councils are undertaking to change way that key services and supports are delivered and experienced.

ADASS responded to concerns from members, DHSC, providers and others relating to staff shortages, social care fragility and the impact of winter and the omicron variant on social care by conducting a member survey. We found that a very significant number of Councils are having to make extremely difficult choices about who receives care and support, and what level of care they can expect given the increasing constraints.

A new rapid survey of ADASS members shows that whilst councils are delivering more care and support in people’s homes, people are waiting longer for vital care assessments and reviews.  It suggests that the number of people waiting for assessments and reviews has increased over the last three months.

Adult social services are facing a deluge of requests for care and support from older people and disabled people of working age as society opens up after Covid-19, directors of services are warning. This found LAs face sharply rising numbers of people coming forward for help. Directors fear that people will have to wait longer for less care and support unless the Government steps in with more funding and launches its long-awaited social care reforms.    

An ADASS survey of local authorities responsible for social services has found they face sharply rising numbers of people coming forward for support.  The survey finds increasing numbers of requests and referrals across a range of services. A copy of the report can be downloaded below.

This year has been unique with COVID-19 affecting the landscape so significantly. The timing has enabled us to also gather data relating to the impact of and the response to the pandemic. This survey is about more than money, it’s about enabling people to live the lives they want to lead, now and in the future.

Every year ADASS produces a Budget Survey. This is the seventeenth time we have done so. This year has been unique in so many ways and this is reflected very clearly in this year’s survey. This particular report underlines the all-consuming nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact for those of us with care and support needs, our families, carers and for those who commission and provide advice, care and support in our own homes, care homes and within our communities.  

The annual ADASS Budget Survey is an authoritative analysis of the state of adult social care finances drawn from the experiences of current leaders in adult social care. It provides in-depth intelligence on how adult social care is responding to the multiple challenges of meeting increased expectations and need, whilst managing resources in an environment where Local Government funding is reducing, the provider and labour markets are fragile and the impact is affecting, and affected by, what is happening in the NHS...

Successive governments have failed to sufficiently address what is an overwhelming issue: the recognition of and funding for these vital services and supports. Adult Social Care spending as a percentage of GDP (UK) in England has fallen in recent years and will continue to fall from around 1.2% in 2009 to around 0.9% in 2020. This representation covers both the short and longer-term issues in relation to social care funding.