Derbyshire faces £11.8 million shortfall in local authority budgets this financial year
£5.8 million cut to adult social care budget in 2022/23
Data analysed by Access Social Care charity shows that over £11.8 million has been slashed from Derbyshire’s local authority budget this financial year (5 April 2021 – 6 April 2022). The charity is the first organisation to look into this publicly available data and spotlight what this means for the social care sector.
Concerningly, the data shows that by 2025/26, Derbyshire County Council will be balancing a staggering £67 million budget shortfall. Within that shortfall, at least £5.8 million has already been identified as to be saved through cuts to the adult social care budget, with further cuts predicted.
Reduction in central government grants means that councils have stripped back vital community services in order to make the necessary cuts. According to the Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (ADASS) latest survey, 75 percent of adult social care local authority leaders are not confident, or only partially confident, that they will fulfil their statutory duties to meet their constituents’ needs.
These large scale budget cuts mean that potentially millions of older and disabled people will go without the care services needed to sustain a basic quality of life. This means people will be left without vital services such as help managing nutrition, personal hygiene, assisting with toilet needs and maintaining personal relationships.
Alongside these drastic cuts, the level of unmet need is also increasing. Demand for social care has risen with an ageing population. Covid-19 has also increased pressure as a result of long covid but also those whose care needs increased as a result of isolation and reduced support during lockdowns. In addition, the new cap on social care (due to commence in April 2022) is likely to result in an increase in people requesting a social care assessment in order to ensure they can start paying towards their lifetime cost of care.
In order to meet these shortfalls, local authorities are going to be forced to recommission and close down community services and increase social care charges.
Kari Gerstheimer, CEO and Founder of Access Social Care, said: “Every day, millions of people across the country do not get the social care they are legally entitled to. Local authority budgets are not reflecting the unprecedented level of unmet need and people are suffering as a result. The system is also deeply unfair, with poorer areas suffering the deepest cuts to their social care budgets. The 10 percent worst off local authorities have made more than 30 percent cuts to their spending since 2010. Without additional funding, local authorities will struggle to make ends meet and stark health inequalities will continue to climb”.
