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Older people face increased rationing of key services as a result of chronic underfunding of community care over the past decade, claims a new study from charity Help the Aged.

Changes in policy, such as the withdrawal of the NHS from almost all long-term provision, the redefinition of nursing care, and changes in capital limits for residential and nursing care, have put additional demands on local authorities and led to a disproportionate allocation of resources going into hospital care at the expense of social care, the charity claims.

"Funding has simply not kept pace with need and this is having disastrous consequences for older people," said Gail Elkington, policy officer at Help the Aged.

"We urgently need to see this inadequacy in funding addressed in the chancellor's forthcoming comprehensive spending review."

The study, Nothing Personal, shows that following government guidance, social services departments have targeted their resources on those assessed as most in need of support, with the budget determining whether those with less urgent needs receive help.

While local authorities were found to be contracting with the independent sector to supply home and residential care to reduce costs, this appeared to be opening a gap in the quality of care as independent providers tried to manage with the lower fees offered by local authorities.

The report shows that fewer people are being supported at home but that they are receiving substantial packages of care, while low-level services such as cleaning, laundry, and gardening have been cut back.

Levels of funding for social services and for older people's support differed from one authority to another and this affected the extent to which older people's needs were being met. Effective joint working between health and social services has still some way to go and cultural differences between models of care seem likely to persist, suggests the report.

Help the Aged is calling for greater resources and for fairer and more even distribution of social care services, as well as higher priority for low-level needs.

The report, carried out by the Nuffield Community Care Studies Unit at the University of Leicester and financed by the community fund, looks at the policies and practices of six local authorities across England and Wales and is based on interviews with social services departments, voluntary sector and private providers of care services, older people and their carers.

- Nothing Personal: Rationing Social Care for Older People from www.helptheaged.org.uk