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, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) has warned.
It said 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.
In ADASS’s survey of councils responsible for social services, seven in 10 directors said they are dealing with growing demand for help with mental health issues, while nearly six in 10 say more people with care and support needs are seeking help to escape domestic violence or other abuse. More than a third report rising numbers of rough sleepers needing support.
Cllr David Fothergill, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Social care and its 1.6 million-strong workforce have risen to the unprecedented challenges caused by coronavirus, doing all they can to help keep those who draw upon these services safe and well.
“As this survey highlights, our recovery from the pandemic must include not only short-term help to deal with the immediate and rising demand for social care services, but also secure the long-term future of how we provide and pay for care and support.
“People of all ages who draw upon and work in social care need to have certainty for the future, and we call on government to bring forward its proposals, including a timetable for reform, as soon as possible, and before the summer parliamentary recess.”