Charity warns of ‘looming disabled care crisis’

THE GOVERNMENT has been urged to give councils more money to provide care for disabled adults after a study revealed the pressures facing their families.

The disability charity Sense found that 74 per cent of families caring for disabled adults with complex needs in Yorkshire and Humber were living in fear of what would happen if they were no longer able to provide support.

Eight out of 10 family carers in the region said they had little or no trust in local authorities to provide adequate support to their disabled loved ones.

And just one in three councils in England knew how many disabled adults were being cared for by family or friends at home.

Sense deputy chief executive Richard Kramer said: “After a lifetime of caring, no parent or disabled adult should be left neglected and living in fear about the future.

“We need to tackle the pressures facing families with better planning for future care needs and greater investment in social care to combat this looming care crisis.

“It is now a time to act so disabled adults and their families receive the right support at the right time and in the most appropriate setting.”

Gavin Glasby, 54, who cares full-time for his 22-year-old son Alex in Rotherham, said support for carers was being underfunded.

He said: “If institutions want us as carers in a domestic setting they need to provide the balance through respite. However, it’s gradually being underfunded and our support structures are getting taken away

“Over half of our respite has been cancelled, and the amount of overnight respite available per year has been reduced.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Carers are invaluable in supporting their loved ones and their own needs must be a priority too, which is why we changed the law to introduce better rights for carers.

“We know the social care system is under pressure. That’s why we’ve given an extra £2bn funding and will publish plans this summer to reform social care to ensure it is sustainable for the future.”