1.4 percentage point increase in people paying for some of their social care

2 Oct 2018 12:51 PM

The proportion of people receiving council funded or managed care1, who report that they or their family pay for some of their care and support has risen from 35.3 per cent in 2016/17 to 36.7 per cent in 2017/18, according to figures released by NHS Digital2.

Other findings include:

The Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England 2017-18, provides data collected from around 65,000 service users on topics such as their satisfaction with the care and support they receive, social contact, control over their daily lives and feeling safe.

Also out today is Mental Capacity Act 2005, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards, England 2017-18, which includes the number of applications for a Deprivation of Liberty Safeguard (DoLS), the number completed during the year and the length of time taken to complete applications.  Regional data is available within this report.

There is a new guide to social care available on the NHS website.  It contains information to help people understand the options available and to access services, while councils, NHS organisations and care providers can reuse that information on their own websites using the free syndication service.

Read the full report

Personal Social Services Adult Social Care Survey, England 2017-18

Notes to editors

  1. The survey is only asked of service users aged 18 and over in receipt, at the point that data is extracted (between 30 September and 31 December), of long-term support services funded or managed by social services following a full assessment of need.
  2. There are three categories that service users can choose. These are ‘Yes, I buy some more care and support with my own money’, ‘Yes, my family pays for some more care and support for me’ and ‘No’. A survey taker can choose both of the ‘Yes’ categories.  More information on this can be found in Chart 24 of the report.
  3. The Primary Support Reason describes why the individual requires social care support; the primary disability / impairment impacting on the individual’s quality of life and creating a need for support and assistive care. An individual may have more than one support reason; for example, a service user may have a learning disability but is not recorded under Primary Support Reason ‘Learning Disability support’ if the primary reason for support identified at their assessment falls under one of the other PSR classifications.
  4. These figures relate to service users who reported “I have as much control over my daily life as I want.” not those who reported “I have no control over my daily life”.
  5. The report uses data collected from a randomly selected sample of people who have accessed Adult Social Care Services and who also chose to participate in this survey. There were 65,020 responses this year, compared to 72,580 in 2016-17. These survey responses are then weighted to make inferences (or estimates) about the questionnaire responses for the whole of the eligible population. These findings remain statistically robust.

NHS Digital is the national information and technology partner of the health and care system. Our team of information analysis, technology and project management experts create, deliver and manage the crucial digital systems, services, products and standards upon which health and care professionals depend. During the 2017/18 financial year, NHS Digital published 275 statistical reports. Our vision is to harness the power of information and technology to make health and care better.

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