Every day, half of pensioners seeking help are let down by social care
SOME 2,000 pleas for care from desperate pensioners are rejected every day, an “alarming” report has revealed.
This means more than half of all requests are turned down by local councils. Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director, said: “Faced with too much demand and too little supply, our social care system is effectively under siege.”
Around 700,000 requests for formal care and support made by older people in the past 12 months were not dealt with, according to analysis in the Age UK report.
But as many as 1.5 million over65s in England are going without all the help they need, it is claimed.
OAPs seeking care who did not meet the eligibility criteria in 23 per cent of cases had their files closed.
In 46 per cent of cases where councils found them ineligible, they were referred to the likes of Age UK.
The data shows how difficult it is to qualify for care within the shrunken system, states the study.
Between 2010 and 2019, total spending on adult social care fell by £86million in real terms, representing a four per cent reduction in local authority spending.
Ms Abrahams added: “We know what happens to these don’t older people whose applications are rejected but inevitably some have no choice but to struggle on alone.
“Councils do their best with resources they have but there simply not enough to go round.
“Real suffering is going on, with older people’s lives being diminished and, we fear, being cut short.”
The budget is up from its low point in 2014/15, but the older and disabled population has risen.This means care spending per head has fallen by six per cent per adult over the same the are
ELAINE and Michael Yates have been wrestling with the crisis-hit care system ever since he suffered a brain injury in 2004.
The former Lance Corporal, 74, who spent 12 years in the Army, found his speech and mobility severely affected before being hit by diabetes and dementia.
The couple have been on an “absolute horrendous journey” trying to obtain the care Michael needs to stay in his own home at Wellingborough, Northants.
Elaine, 70, and suffering from serious asthma, said: “How ill do you have to be before local councils and the Government realise you need help?
“Every request we have made
time period. Jan Shortt, of the National Pensioner’s Convention, said: “The chronic underfunding of social care services has caused a crisis that successive governments have failed to understand and deal with.
“The only fair way to deal with care is by a national care service, funded through general taxation, free at the point of need and publicly delivered.” Mike Padgham, of the Independent Care Group, said: “The Age UK statistics are alarming and shame us as a country. Some for help has been delayed or denied. Right now, I have asked for a few hours a week from a carer to help me cope with Michael at home.
“But the county council have not answered my request even though it was made more than a month ago.
“What they have done is go to the centre which Michael attends two days a week and ask if it is really necessary for a carer to be there to help him.
“It’s heartbreaking. We are currently paying £110 a week, which I queried so they have cut it to £107.25.”
£8billion has been cut from local authority social care budgets since 2010 so it should not come as a surprise that more older and vulnerable people cannot get the care they need to enjoy a decent quality of life.
“Boris Johnson promised to sort out social care ‘once and for all’ when he became Prime Minister but all we have been promised is crossparty talks and a solution within the five years of this Parliament.”