Thousands of people with disabilities and long-term illnesses are now in debt after being unable to pay for social care support, according to new research by the BBC. Their analysis shows that councils have chased more than 60,000 people for unpaid social care support, with councils taking legal action against 330 people between 2021 and 2022.
The spike in cost for food, energy bills and rent is likely to have contributed to this crisis, alongside the rising cost of social care, which has risen by thousands of pounds for some adults, the BBC says. Claimants told the BBC they can’t afford the charges amid rising food and rent prices, along with the additional costs of living with disabilities.
Campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts said the charges were discriminatory, leaving disabled people “to live on very, very little money”.
“Financial assessments are too often rushed by stretched local authorities, and they have sometimes not been updated to include recent hikes in energy bills and rent. In many cases councils also failed to account for all the additional expenses disabled people face in maintaining their health and wellbeing, such as accessible transport, adapted clothing or special dietary requirements”
The Advocacy Service at Disability Sheffield has commented:
“We are seeing more and more people we work with turning down the care they require because they cannot afford the contributions. Social workers seem to have become more involved in the financial side, which conflicts with them being able to focus on getting the best possible care in place for the person. Sheffield Council are, for the first time we know of, now taking people to court over this debt. There doesn’t seem to be any change to contributions linked to the cost of living crisis which does not help people either.”
Read the BBC Report in full here.
