Social workers: take our survey on care package reductions

Community Care and the Care and Support Alliance, a coalition of over 90 of Britain’s leading charities representing older and disabled people and their carers, want to hear from social workers about the decisions they are making about care in the current financial climate.

We know that in 2016-17, 24% of planned savings were due to come from cutting services or reducing the personal budgets of people who receive support (ADASS budget survey).

The move to target care packages for savings has sparked concern. There’s been evidence of councils pursuing “legally risky” policies to drive down costly home care packages. Disability campaigners have warned of “significant cuts” that jeopardise the right to independent living.

Care package cuts have also reached the courts. In March this year, a severely disabled man lost a High Court challenge over a council’s decision to reduce his support by 42%. This case was believed to be the first dealing with the Care Act 2014’s wellbeing principle.

At the same time, we know that in some cases, people’s needs will have changed and their support can be reduced safely and fairly. Social workers have a duty to promote independence and alternative, less expensive ways of meeting eligible care needs can be identified in some cases.

We are therefore asking social workers, and other local authority social services staff whose role includes reviewing care packages, to share their experiences with us by taking our survey. The survey includes 13 questions and will take approximately five to 10 minutes to complete. It can be completed anonymously.

Take the survey here.