New Survey Suggests Adult Social Care Is Suffering Under Cuts

Care for vulnerable older people has been suffering - both in quality and quantity - because of funding cuts, a survey of 200 social workers suggests.


In the survey by Age UK and the College of Social Work, more than 85% of respondents said they had seen the impact of cuts in the past year.

Of those, 95% said the cuts in England presented "a risk to the dignity of their older clients".

The Department for Health says the care of older people is a priority. Councils across the country have been facing a funding squeeze under the coalition's spending cuts.

Since 2004, social care funding has stagnated, and then decreased, Age UK said. This is despite an increase of more than 250,000 people aged 85 or over, the group most likely to require social care.

The charity said the funding given this year was half a billion pounds less than when the coalition came to power in 2010.

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20566307