Davey: Spending review cannot be used to cut social care as number requesting support set to rise by 500,000 a year

EMBARGO: 00:01 Monday 9th June

• Ed Davey calls on Chancellor to rule out “devastating” cuts to social care in Spending Review
• An extra 500,000 people a year could need social care support by the time Government reforms come into force in 2036
• Liberal Democrat Leader calls for named carer and social care worker for every family in need of care

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the Chancellor to rule out any cuts to social care funding at this week's Spending Review warning they would be “devastating” for those in need of care. It comes as research by the party reveals that an additional 500,000 people a year could need social care support by the time the Government’s reforms are expected to finally be completed in 2036.

Ed Davey is also calling for a named carer and social worker to be assigned to each family in need. He made the call in his recent book ‘Why I Care: And Why Care Matters.’ It would mean that for the UK’s 6 million unpaid carers, each of their families would have a professional that would be assigned to focussing on their needs and who they knew by name. This would make for more efficient and better care due to the experience that each of these named carers and social care workers would have with each family.

It comes as it has been reported that social care reforms from the Casey review due to be completed in three years time may not be in place until 2036, more than a decade from now. The Liberal Democrats have previously called for this review to be completed by the end of this year, not the three it is currently scheduled for, and the reforms implemented as soon as possible.

Analysis by the Liberal Democrats has shown that if the number of people requesting social care continues to increase at the same rate as it has historically from 2017/18 until now - 1.79% on average annually - then an additional 495,000 people a year will be requesting support by 2036. It means by 2035/36 the number of those requesting support each year could have risen from 2.1 million to 2.6 million.

Despite the turmoil in social care, the Chancellor has yet to rule out any cuts to the sector. It has been reported that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, which provides funding to councils who provide social care, are still yet to reach a funding settlement with the Chancellor.

The crisis in care is already cascading into the NHS. Care England said last year that over 45% of hospital discharge delays were linked to social care, with separate research showing around 16 million bed days lost to bed blocking in the past 3.5 years, an average of 12,772 a day and costing the NHS £2 billion a year.

In recent months, hospitals have experienced bed occupancy levels of 96%, well above the safety limit of 85%. This contributes to long delays in A&Es as people cannot be admitted into hospital, with previous analysis suggesting that there were 16,600 deaths associated with long A&E waits before admission in England last year – a rise of 20% on 2023.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“Any further cuts to social care at the spending review would be devastating for the countless people in desperate need of care. Years of Conservative neglect broke the system, with massive consequences for our health service, but now the Labour government is moving at a snail's pace in addressing this crisis.

“Without fixing social care, we cannot fix the NHS so it beggars belief that ministers seem willing to let the rot continue. We simply cannot wait more than a decade for reforms to be put in place, whilst the number of people suffering grows.

“The Government needs to get serious and that starts by completing their review by the end of the year with the reforms to follow as quickly as possible alongside introducing a named carer for each family who needs support..

“At this week’s Spending Review, the Chancellor must realise that social care cannot take any more cuts and rule them out. If Rachel Reeves goes ahead the consequences could be catastrophic.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The Liberal Democrat analysis can be found here. Please note: Sheet 1 refers to the number of requests for adult social care support for each year since 2017-18 (the earliest data available).

Care England’s comments on the number of bed occupancy delays due to social care can be found here

Reporting on the number of days lost to bed blocking can be found here.

Research on the number of deaths linked to A&E delays can be found here.

Reporting on social care reform not coming into effect until 2036 can be found here.

Reporting on the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government in relation to the Spending Review can be found here.