The other care crisis: disabled people are also feeling the squeeze

The new report from QualityWatch (a joint research programme from the Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation) is another reminder that the social care system is on its knees.

The number of people receiving care – working age disabled people and their carers, as well as older people whose case is so powerfully made in this report – is being rationed, leaving thousands of people previously eligible without any local support.

The Government’s flagship care reforms are close to being agreed, with the Care Bill soon to finish its passage through Parliament. But for Scope and our partners in the Care and Support Alliance, one of the most important decisions is yet to be made – who’s in and who’s out of the system.

QualityWatch highlights the importance of being able to quantify the impact of rationing on the population

Decisions on eligibility are imminent. A new version of the regulations will be published shortly. But against a backdrop of financial pressures in local authorities and with no promise in the budget last week of any additional support to councils, there is a risk that all that is good about the Care Bill could be out of reach to many people who need support to do the basics in life: to get up, get dressed and get out of the house.

Scope has today published the findings of research we undertook with disabled people and carers about the eligibility criteria that the Government published last summer. It provides further evidence that if the threshold for care is too tight, hundreds of thousands of people who need care to get around the house, to communicate with family, friends or colleagues or to play a part in their community won’t get it.

Our findings suggest that at present, people with autistic spectrum disorders, brain injuries and sensory loss are unlikely to be captured because social and communication needs are left out of the regulations.

QualityWatch highlights the importance of being able to quantify the impact of rationing on the population, and rightly points to the implications for the health and wellbeing of older people.

Our findings suggest that alongside mental and physical health, too tight a threshold will isolate disabled people from their friends and family, prevent people from participating in their communities and in meaningful work, and risk disabled people’s independence, choice and control.

The change we need is in two places. The Government must commit to setting the threshold for care low enough that it captures people before they fall into crisis and so it can genuinely promote wellbeing and independence for disabled people, older people and carers.

The Care and Support Alliance believes that the right level is equivalent to ‘moderate’ care needs in ‘Fair Access to Care Services’ – the current system which will be supplanted when the Care Bill comes into force.

This will need more funding in the system. Councils say the Better Care Fund is not enough. If the Government is serious about creating a preventative care system that promotes well-being, then it must listen to councils, be bold and ensure that sufficient money is provided to deliver on that promise.

Anna Bird is Head of Research and Public Policy at Scope. Please note that the views expressed in guest blogs on the Nuffield Trust website are the authors’ own.