Elderly care services showing worst decline in Labour-run poor boroughs

Biggest spending falls in deprived areas reflect coalition’s town-hall budget cuts, says Labour

Labour-run councils in some of England’s poorest areas have cut services for vulnerable older people far more deeply than Conservative authorities during the coalition’s time in power, new research finds.

Despite rising demand for assistance, linked to the ageing population, every one of the 152 local authorities in England has reduced the amount of money it spends on elderly care.

But the biggest falls have occurred generally in England’s most deprived boroughs with Labour-run local councils, according to an analysis of all authorities’ spending on personal social services since 2010.

Liverpool has cut the most (16.6%) in that period, followed by Manchester (16.4%), Hackney, east London (16.3%), and the nearby boroughs of Newham (16.1%) and Tower Hamlets (15.8%).

The smallest declines were in Dorset (1.2%), Surrey (2.1%) and West Sussex (2.6%), which are all Conservative-controlled councils.

The study, conducted by the management consultancy firm Candesic and reported in the business magazine HealthInvestor, shows that cuts have been made everywhere despite previous research showing that the number of people in England who need care services is likely to rise from 6 million to 7.66 million by 2030.

Labour argues that the spending falls reflect the fact that councils in poorer areas have been hit disproportionately hard by a four-year programme of cuts to town hall budgets, which began with the 2010 comprehensive spending review.

That led to councils tightening eligibility criteria so that fewer older people received care, and to imposing higher charges for care services.

While the amount councils have spent on personal social services has risen from £9.73bn in 2010-11 to £9.98bn in 2012-13, the amount out of those budgets spent on elderly care has fallen in both actual and proportionate terms over that period – from £3.45bn (35.5%) to £3.19bn (32%) in the current financial year.

The charity Age UK warned that the cuts were forcing growing numbers of needy older people to live “frightened, isolated lives” as the services they relied upon were gradually eroded.

Candesic’s study covers money spent on care for older people which helps them continue living at home, and on residential care home fees.

The study, which tracks personal social services spending in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, says: “Local authorities have preferred to defend services to children, the disabled and the mentally ill. Therefore older people’s services have been allocated a significantly reduced portion of the personal social services ‘pie’ over the last three years.

“Older people increasingly receive [cheaper] domiciliary care than [more expensive] residential or nursing care than in the recent past.

It adds: “The north has been subject to the most aggressive budget cuts, with the north-west faring particularly badly, having had budget reductions of more than 15% for the last two years.

“Over the time period analysed, only one in five [of all] local authorities have increased the elderly care budget, despite demographic pressures increasing the need for care.”

Liz Kendall, the shadow minister for care and older people, said the cuts by councils that were under Labour’s control were “inevitable”, given the scale of budget cuts imposed on them by the coalition.

Candesic’s analysis also shows as untrue denials by ministers concerning cuts to elderly care services.

“The government has repeatedly denied that funding and services for elderly care are being cut,” Kendall said. “Yet this report clearly shows that some of the most vulnerable people in society, in some of the most deprived parts of the country, are bearing the brunt of this government’s disastrous policies.”

Michelle Mitchell, Age UK’s charity director, said: “Hidden behind these saddening figures will be many instances of older people living frightened, isolated, lives as they struggle to cope without the care support they need.

“People at the bottom of the income scale are often entirely dependent on local authority care. By cutting spending on social care our society is letting down some of our most vulnerable older people at a time when they need our support the most.”

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) said councils had made £1.89bn of “savings” to adult care social services in 2011-12 and 2012-13.

But Sarah Pickup, Adass’ president, said that about 70% of those savings had come from re-designing how services were delivered, for example via reduced use of residential care and greater use of “enablement” services.

Last week the Conservative-run Kent county council said it was reducing its adult social care budget next year by £18.8m, amounting to 5% of the total, as part of a package of £60m cuts in its £1.1bn annual budget.