Social Services

(asked on 29th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to tackle the level of unmet need for social care in England.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 6th February 2019

All councils have statutory duties to look after the vulnerable, elderly and disabled people in their area.

By passing the Care Act 2014, the Government established a national threshold that defines the care needs that local authorities must meet. This eliminates the postcode lottery of eligibility across England.

In 2017/18 local authorities in England advised over 500,000 people on how to access services to meet their care needs. This includes services provided by leisure, housing, transport and care providers as well as voluntary groups.

The Government has given councils access to around £10 billion more adult social care funding from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

As people live longer than ever before we need to ensure the social care system is sustainable in the longer term. This is why the Government has committed to publishing a Green Paper at the earliest opportunity setting out its proposals for reform.

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