Social care system ‘close to point of no return,’ DRC

10th January 2007

Britain’s social care system is close to the point of no return and needs urgent investment to reduce the unbearable pressure that its shortcomings are placing on disabled people, carers and families, the Disability Rights Commission said today.

 Responding to the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate’s annual report into the state of social care in England the DRC said:

‘The report paints a bleak picture of increasing demand for support against the backdrop of ever tightening criteria for getting it. What threadbare services there are contain massive holes that are claiming millions of families who are now at breaking point.

‘The job of keeping many families together today rests on the shoulders of an informal army of relations and friends which includes thousands of children who provide over 50 hours of care a week. In a developed society this is nothing short of a disgrace.

‘The current settlement we have is producing disadvantage and needless costs across society – to women who overwhelmingly fill the gaps left by inadequate social services, to the children of disabled parents who represent one in three of all children living in poverty, to the taxpayers who support the huge numbers of disabled people without the support to enter the labour market.

‘Investment and reform to social care should be a top priority for the 2007 comprehensive spending review. Further neglect will only compound the pressures that families are already experiencing and store up even greater problems for future generations.’