The High Court ruled that a local council's decision to increase eligibility thresholds for adult care had been unlawful. The council had failed to take into account the impact of its decision to exclude some people with substantial needs from support, breaching the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Source: JM & NT, R (on the application of) v Isle of Wight Council, High Court 11 November 2011
Links: Judgement | RNHA press release | BBC report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
An article examined the effect of different assumptions about future trends in life expectancy on the sustainability of the pensions and long-term care systems.
Source: Juliette Malley, Ruth Hancock, Mike Murphy, John Adams, Raphael Wittenberg, Adelina Comas-Herrer, Chris Curry, Derek King, Sean James, Marcello Morciano, and Linda Pickard, 'The effect of lengthening life expectancy on future pension and long-term care expenditure in England, 2007 to 2032', Health Statistics Quarterly 52, Winter 2011, Office for National Statistics
Links: Article
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that children's social care spending in England was expected to be cut by an average of 24 per cent in 2011-12 – this was significantly more than the overall real-terms reduction in local government spending of around 10 per cent, and more than the budget reductions for most other local authority services. The cuts were most apparent in English urban areas and those authorities that had a high proportion of looked-after children. Services focused on prevention, such as Sure Start, were particularly vulnerable to cuts.
Source: Smart Cuts? Public spending on children s social care, National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Nov
A report said that spending on long-term care in developed countries was set to double, or even triple, by 2050, driven by ageing populations. Governments needed to make their long-term care policies more affordable and provide better support for family carers and professionals.
Source: Help Wanted? Providing and paying for long-term care, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | OECD press release | UK summary
Date: 2011-May
A report said that care and support for older people in England had reached a financial 'breaking point'. 800,000 people who needed care received no formal support from either the state or private sector agencies. That figure might well rise to 1 million people within 4 years as a result of estimated cuts to already threadbare social care budgets.
Source: Care in Crisis: Causes and solutions, Age UK
Links: Report | Age UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-May
A study (for an official commission) examined the views of both the general public and specific groups of people on how social care and support in England should be funded in the future. There was strong support for increasing the £23,250 savings threshold before people had to start paying for care, and for a cap on the private costs of care to limit liability for individuals.
Source: Ben Hewitson, Becky Seale, and Lucy Joyce, Public Engagement Exploring Care and Support Funding Options, Commission on the Funding of Care and Support
Links: Report | Commission press release | Community Care report
Date: 2011-May
A report said that Northern Ireland health and social care services were facing a funding gap of £1 billion. There was a 9 per cent greater need for health and social care services in Northern Ireland than in England.
Source: John Appleby, Rapid Review of Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Funding Needs and the Productivity Challenge: 2011/12-2014/15, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: Report | NIE press release
Date: 2011-Mar
A think-tank report said that local authority social care services in England faced a funding gap in excess of £1 billion by 2015. It called for a single national settlement for health and social care, and for budgets to be brought together.
Source: Richard Humphries, Social Care Funding and the NHS: An Impending Crisis?, King s Fund
Links: Report | Kings Fund press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined emerging government policy on integrating health and social care, and considered some of the implications for joint financing.
Source: Charlotte Goldman and Jane Carrier, 'Joint financing in the new NHS: thinking to the future', Journal of Integrated Care, Volume 18 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan