Social Services
(asked on 15th January 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of care packages that were commissioned by Local Authorities in each year since 2010.
The table below shows the number of people receiving care packages for the period 2010/11 to 2013/14.
During year | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
Total | 1,574,590 | 1,462,290 | 1,327,910 | 1,273,280 |
The method of collecting data around users of social care changed in 2014/15. The table below provides the figures for 2014/15 onwards which are published by NHS Digital.
During year | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 |
Completed Short Term Care Episodes | 253,000 | 245,270 | 241,810 |
Long Term Care Users | 885,000 | 873,000 | 868,440 |
The figures above show that there has been a reduction in local authority social care user numbers over the time period requested.
Local authorities have shifted their focus towards preventing people needing formal packages of care hence the drop in user numbers.
All councils have statutory duties to look after their vulnerable elderly and disabled people. The Care Act 2014 introduced national eligibility criteria for access to adult social care that local authorities are required to meet.