Make social care fair

Author: Ismail Kaji

Posted: 4th Jul 2011

There is not enough money in Social care. This is because the government hasn’t put enough money for in the social care system and there are lots more people who need help. My Understanding is that the social care system needs more funding for people with Learning Disability’s to continue to get the services that they need. This should be a priority for the government.

Also Local Authorities are not being consistent. For example when I used to lived in Hackney I used to get full services and as soon as I moved out from the borough I lost my services this was not fair. People who need social care should have equal rights and it should not matter which borough they live in.

If the government gets their priorities right then this would be better for everyone. I think the government need to put more money into social care and need to make changes so that social care is more equal to everyone who needs help.

We need to this be a top priority and we need this now!

Comments

Hal Camplin
21 October 2011

I agree with your overall point and worry about the consequences of underfunding for disabled people. I am particularly concerned about supported living being used as a cheap option for people who have lived in residential care all their lives. They need full transitonal funding and also fair expectations on service standards. It is always the voluntary sector which get the blame when these moves fail due to an ill considered move. The truth is we need to work together with local authorities and savings can be made but not by crude cutting of services.

In my experience some learning disabled people have accumulated a lot of benefits over the years which for a number of reasons they haven't spent. Although they are entitled to this money - it appears to be wasted. Money is sittign in bank accounts - I've seen th evidence.
It could be used to plug the gap in services instead of depending exclusively on more local authority funding. In the end it means the service user doesn't have to hang around waiting for services they both need and want.

I agree basic needs should be met by local authorities but the money in the system is everyones (taxpayers but also non - taxpayers) we should be concerned about how it is used to benefit society and particularly those who are in more need.