What about ‘The Other Care Crisis’?

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The Coalition has yet to grasp the urgency of social care reform for working age disabled people, writes Richard Hawkes, chief executive of Scope.

As the Government look to take the success of the Paralympics from 2012 into 2013, there is one area of policy reform that could create a true and lasting legacy for working age disabled people – creating a fit and proper social care system.

Despite the Coalition prioritising social care reform in the remainder of this Parliament (even giving it prominent billing in the mid-term policy review) they have yet to grasp the urgency of this reform for working age disabled people.

To date, too many conversations about social care have been focused on care for the elderly, ignoring the one third of social care users who are working age disabled people.

Today’s report – The Other Care Crisis – has been released by five of Britain’s leading disability charities and exposes shocking new evidence that 105,000 working age disabled people risk being unable to do the most basic things in life because of a chronic lack of support.

For some, social care can mean simply getting out of bed in the morning, making a home-cooked meal, or being able to communicate with friends and family.

It can provide the support disabled people need to live actively and independently: working, studying, or keeping fit.
But when this support is taken away, it can leave working age disabled adults distraught, alone and in crisis.
This new evidence shows that four in ten working age disabled people are failing to have their basic needs met. Many are not able to eat properly, wash, dress or get out of the house. Furthermore, half are withdrawing from society as a result of not receiving adequate care.

To its credit, the Government has set out a bold vision for the care system of the future, built around independence and wellbeing for all.

However, much of the political debate accompanying this has focused on where a ‘cap’ on lifetime care costs should be set and how to avoid the heart-breaking situations of elderly people selling their homes to pay for care.

Whilst these two issues are important aspects of the social care debate, for working age disabled adults this does not apply.

For them, the most important issue is whether they are even eligible for care or not.

One disabled man told Scope that as a result of his support being withdrawn, he is now unable to put on his shoes. He is forced to ask passing strangers to put them on for him.

For the Government to create a care system that works for working age disabled people there is an urgent need to provide a long term funding solution that gives certainty for the future.

Until a properly funded social care system ensures care for those who need it, working age disabled people will still anxiously be asking ‘will I get support or not?’ - or ‘Can I wash today? Can I get dressed today?’

A social care system that answers these questions for working age disabled people is the only Paralympic legacy the Coalition can leave that is worthy of the achievements our disabled athletes last summer.