This week a rally is being organised to lobby parliament by the Care & Support Alliance, which represents over 60 charities and organisations.
Older and disabled people, their carers and families will travel from all over England to convene on Westminster with a clear message:
‘The social care system is in deep crisis, and this will continue to worsen unless the Government acts now.’
People are fed up with the uncertainty around what care they can expect when life may go wrong and their health deteriorates or those looking after them can no longer do so.
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services estimates that Government budgets for social care reduced in England last year by around £1 billion.
This is at a time when we are living longer and when the introduction of self-directed care in the form of personal budgets and direct payments are (supposedly) becoming increasingly available.
People - on paper - have more choice and control of their care than ever before.
In reality, the same people are faced with Local Authority cuts to existing services and a tightening of the criteria to determine which people are eligible to receive state-funded help at all.
All Local Social Services Departments are under a duty to assess people who may be in need of services in their areas and to arrange necessary services for those who require them.
In such hard financial times many people are losing out on the care to which they are rightly entitled.
The Government is currently preparing a white paper on social care which will be published later in spring, in tandem with a plan to reform the way that care is funded in England and Wales.
These are interesting times.
Stephensons has a long history of expertise in the field of community care law and has experts in adult care provision, child care, and care funding matters.
We have been involved in a number of important cases in this field.
Legal Aid may be available, or we have a competitive tariff of fixed fee options to assist people in legal matters in this field.
Our community care team is part of the Civil Liberties Unit who have many years expertise in Public Law and Human Rights challenges, for free initial advice call us on 0845 144 1441.
By community care expert, Pete Donohue