BBC Survey and cuts in Local Authority Care

Yesterday BBC News ran story about a survey they conducted of Local Authority attitudes to funding care in the light of the spending review. This was part of the BBC Living Longer season.

They received a response from 87 authorities and the results were enlightening. Over half of those authorities expressed concern about care funding and warned that there would be some tough decisions to make.

Almost all authorities (86/87) were investing in short term intervention services such as intensive tempoary care to help people re-gain independence. To me this is facinating because it is cuts that have caused authorities to look more closely at the way they spend money. Short term intervention may be expensive, but if it can give someone back their independence it will be cheaper over the long term. Better still, it gives someone their quality of life back.

We get very frustrated with Local Authorities. They mostly refuse to refer people to companies such as ours that provide a specialist advice service that can help people funding care avoid running out of money. If we are sucessful not only do the local authority save money but the person concerned retains their indenedence and control over where they live. It can also mean that money is preserved for their family so everyone wins.

Interestingly 72 out of the 87 authorities that responded to the survey said that they were considering changes to the amount that they charge for care.

It would be a shame if people were charged more for care when there is a clear way that money can be saved elsewhere.

Posted in The carefeesadvice Blog

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