A report by the Access Social Care charity has found demand for social care needs assessment advice has risen by 110 per cent in the past two years.
The nationwide data in the report shows the number of individuals calling helplines that need help with getting an adequate needs assessment to arrange social care provision, such as personal care, protection or social support services, has risen by 84 per cent in two years.
The State of the Nation report also highlights an increase in demand for advice on charging and paying for social care over the last two years, rising by 45 per cent.
Access Social Care, which provides free legal advice for people with social care needs, found more people are contacting helplines after they were left with far less income due to local council increasing their charges due to budget pressures and a lack of funding.
The demand for advice for unpaid carers also rose by 394 per cent in just two years as helplines receive calls from individuals with problems struggling to cope with their caring responsibilities.
“The number of calls is increasing at an unsustainable rate as local authorities continue to tighten budgets. There was a significant spike in the number of calls recorded as early as March 2020, when the pandemic first began to affect the country, and has continued to rise in many areas of social care since that point,” said Access Social Care chief executive Kari Gerstheimer.
Gerstheimer said the rise in calls into charity helplines is symptomatic of underfunding from central government.
“Every day millions of older and disabled people are going without the social care they need and have a right to.
“As local councils increase their charges to stay on top of budget restrictions, delay and deny people care to balance their books, more and more people are contacting helplines asking for help. Something has to change. Without extra funding from the government, the system cannot cope.”
