SASW concern at growing impact of Scottish social care cuts
SASW has expressed concerns that the impact of public spending cuts is growing, warning that “evidence is accumulating on an almost daily basis” that 2014 will be far worse than previous years.
Fears heightened following the claim by the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland (LDAS) on 10 March that 11,000 fewer people are receiving home care and other services than six years ago, as a result of diminishing numbers of people being deemed eligible for social care now than in 2007.
LDAS made the assertion that fewer people are now eligible for social care services after examining government statistics and comparing them with the growth in the elderly population over the same period.
The research estimates that more than 20,000 people who might expect to be receiving social care do not currently qualify, despite the fact that eligibility criteria for support has not changed. According to SASW Manager Trisha Hall, the explanation lies in “the interpretation of eligibility, which may now vary because the budgets in local authorities are under horrific pressure”.
Ms Hall said the withdrawal of earlier interventions could be storing up problems for social care funding in the future, which she described as “a false economy within the council economies of today as more and more people will eventually enter the system with critical care needs when they could have been supported at an earlier stage when the support needed was much less complex”.
The increase in charging for services which were previously free was also highlighted by the report, which drew on Government figures to show that charges made to social work clients soared to £51.6 million last year, compared with £40.3 million in 2010, an increase of 21.9%.
In a statement on its website LDAS said it “has long argued that the cuts in public spending would not focus on large scale closure of services such as that proposed by Quarriers last month at Seafield School in Ayrshire but would be about smaller changes in the individual’s packages of care”.
Commenting on the findings Ms Hall said: “Social workers frequently remain the gatekeepers of the resources, accessed after an assessment of need, so it is notable that the report criticises a lack of transparency and over-complication in the system for deciding who qualifies for services.
“We know that many of our members are committed to working within these very harsh budget parameters but we are concerned that social workers are increasingly compromised in being able to operate within their code of ethics and practice.
“There have been reports of users of services suggesting the only way to access a service is by threatening actions which would be harmful to themselves or people close to them. This may be a political debate but social work can and should influence the discussion. We are keen to hear from members who manage to navigate the complexities while finding positive solutions to an ever increasing crisis.