Social care providers making cuts to the number of people they can care for has doubled in the last year due to lack of funding.
Independent research by Hft, a national charity supporting adults with learning disabilities reveals social care providers are struggling to cope with spiraling costs resulting in cut-backs.
Over a third of providers said they balanced the books by making cuts to staff, while over half reported closing down whole sections of the organisation and handing back contracts.
Care providers warned that a lack of financial stability will have an impact on the quality of care.
Billy Davis, Public Affairs and Policy Manager for Hft, said: “The sad reality is that the social care sector has run out of options.
“While in the previous report providers were focusing on streamlining through internal efficiency savings, we can now clearly see that cuts are affecting people, not just processes.”
Sustainability
Mr Davis said: “The lack of a sustainable cash injection for the sector has seen providers resorting to offering care to fewer people to manage spiraling costs at a time when demand for social care is widely acknowledged to be growing.”
Defending decisions made providers he said: “They had no choice but to make decisions culturally at odds with the way they want to run their organisations.
“Given the fragility of the social care sector, there’s never been a more important time to hear the views of the people providing care for some of the most vulnerable in society.
He added: “This report is an opportunity to hear the collective voices on the issues facing the sector and we must listen. It’s clear that at its heart social care funding is, and continues to remain, a national issue that requires a national solution”.
