In April’s c’llr (out now) our special focus is adult social care. The facts and the figures – 11.2 million people are over state pension age, 700,000 people in the UK currently experience dementia and the numbers will double in the next 30 years. The money – people who start off funding their own social care and then have to fall back on state provision could end up costing UK councils in the region of £1bn. And most crucially the people – older people are often active and vocal campaigners for the sort of services they want to see provided.
With budgets squeezed tighter than ever and an increasingly ageing population, local authorities face unprecedented challenges as both providers and commissioners of a range of adult social care services. We look at number of aspects, including: the LGiU’s Jonathan Carr-West suggests ways that councils can help reduce the number of care self-funders who fall back on state funding; Belinda Wadsworth from AgeUK looks at the personalisation of care budgets; Mark Smulian seeks the views of older people; and David Sinclair from the International Longevity Centre crunches the demographic numbers and suggests that an ageing society may pose challenges for service providers but also provides opportunities.
That’s a taste of what’s in the magazine you can download the pdf and read at your leisure. Any feedback and all suggestions for future content welcome at cllr@lgiu.org .
