Social care rules inconsistent and unfair to carers

The Government has announced a fundamental review of social care eligibility rules for disabled and older people, following the release today of a report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI).

The report on the state of social care in England, reveals sharp disparities in how councils decide who is eligible for help and to what extent.

CSCI Chair, Dame Denise Platt said: "On the one hand we show that those who qualify for council support are having a better experience than before. On the other hand those people who fall outside the system, including self funders, have a poor quality experience that can leave them struggling to cope. People who only five years ago qualified for council-arranged help are today excluded by the system and left to fend for themselves. The poor experiences of people and their carers trying and failing to get sufficient help contrast starkly with those people who do qualify for council arranged care".

Despite the existence of a national framework of rules governing access to support, the CSCI report has exposed wide variations between - and even within - councils in who qualifies for help, depending on how these rules are interpreted by local authorities.

Announcing the review, Social Care Minister Ivan Lewis said: "I want to see an end to the 'no help here' culture, which is now creeping into parts of the care system. There will always be a need for a national social care framework, but the existing system is leaving too many families on their own and runs the risk of damaging our commitment to support older and disabled people to live independently."

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers welcomes that the government has formally accepted that the current system of allowing councils to decide how to ration social care for elderly and disabled people is unfair and inconsistent. Carers have always known this, often being at the sharp end of assessment processes that can seem designed to withhold community care rather than to offer it to those in need.

The rules say that disabled and elderly people should be offered a level of support based upon their individual needs, not upon the current availability or cost of services. However too many assessments result in lower offers of support where a family member can be identified to provide care, regardless of the impact on that carer. This means that in some areas carers are feeling forced to take on unacceptably high levels of care that result in them having to give up work, their social life and even their health. To make matters worse, some areas are now threatening major cuts to the voluntary sector services which support those carers to carry on caring.

In welcoming today's announcement the Trust hopes that the review will pay particular attention to the impact of unfair assessments on carers.

Alex Fox, a spokesperson for The Princess Royal Trust for Carers says: "For the system to be made fairer, families must be given accurate information about their rights to support without assumptions being made about the role of carers. Assessments must always consider the impact of care decisions on all family members. We should value and support the UK's 6 million carers, not exploit them. Without them, the costs of caring will rise beyond affordability."

For more information or to download the report, visit the CSCI website