C - Adult Social Care Budgets & Waiting Times

This report focuses on those issues relating to adult social care budgets and the number of people waiting for assessments, care and support or a direct payment to begin, or for a review of their care plan. [...] The impacts of inflation remaining at a stubbornly high level of 6.7% (although down from a peak of 11.1% in October 2022), workforce pressures and the impact of more people needing more and more complex support mean that adult social care budgets are under extreme pressure.3 3 Rising cost of living in the UK, House of Commons Library, 20 October 2023. [...] The impacts of high inflation on adult social care include the increasing costs of residential, nursing and homecare because of labour market pressures and the costs of goods (including fuel) and services. [...] The number of people waiting for an assessment of their needs, including those relating to care, support, carers, occupational therapy or deprivation of liberty safeguards, totals just under a quarter of a million people (249,589) as 7 The state of the adult social care sector and workforce in England, Skills for Care, October 2023. [...] The impact of inflation remaining at a stubbornly high level, increasing levels and complexity of need, pressures in the NHS and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges in adult social care, means that the availability and timeliness of care and support to those of us who need it is increasingly under threat.