Publication, Part of Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report
Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, England, 2021-22
National statistics, Official statistics, Accredited official statistics
ASC-FR RO3 reconciliation exercise with DLUHC
A piece of work was conducted in partnership with DLUHC to reconcile the difference between ASC-FR and RO3 net current expenditure. Local authorities were contacted and asked to provide comments on why net current expenditure differed in the two returns. The comments have been categorised in the Data Quality Summary excel tables.
23 January 2023 11:15 AM
2016-17 update to cash and real term NCE and GCE figures
Table 4 of the Net Current Expenditure and Gross Current Expenditure Tables the cash and real term figures for 2016-17 have been corrected. The correction has also taken place in the chart - Figure 3 Cash vs Real term
16 February 2024 14:40 PM
Requests for Support
This chapter shows the number of requests for support received by local authorities from new clients (those clients not currently in receipt of long term support) and the outcome of those requests (only those requests for which an outcome, also known as a sequel, had been determined in the reporting period are included in these figures. As such, these figures may include requests received in the previous year where the outcome was determined in 2021-22). Depending on the structure in each local authority, these requests may be received directly into:
- adult social care departments
- partner agencies such as mental health trusts
- via a contact centre handling all requests for support from the local authority
- a combination of any of these.
The finance collection does not specifically breakdown expenditure related to frontline requests and so it is not possible to identify the spend on these activities.
Key Findings
In 2021-22 there were almost 2.0 million requests for support from new clients received by local authorities
A total of 1,978,550 requests for support were received from new clients by local authorities in 2021-22. This is an increase of 62,910 (3.3%) compared with 1,915,645 requests for support in 2020-21. This equates to an average of 5,420 requests for support from new clients received each day, up from an average of 5,250 per day last year. Those aged 65 and over accounted for 69.1% (1,367,045) of all requests from new clients.
CASSRs provided reasons for the fluctuation since last year, including;
- reduction in requests during pandemic period and levels have since returned to normal
- change in recording processes and case management systems
- improved reporting
- increased demand for services.
Data is collected on how many clients these requests relate to. In 2021-22 there were an average of 1.5 requests for support per person (1,978,550 requests for support were made by 1,356,620 clients).
The North East region reported the largest number of requests for support per client with 1.8 requests per client. The West Midlands region reported the lowest number of requests per client (1.3), please see Table 13 of the Data Tables for further information.
As seen in Figure 8 below and Table 12 of the Data Tables, the North East region had the highest support request rate for clients aged 18-64 (2,925 requests per 100,000 adults) and the Yorkshire and The Humber region had the highest rate for clients aged 65 and over (16,930). At a local authority level, St. Helens had the highest rate in the country for clients aged 18-64 (8,920 requests per 100,000 adults compared to the England rate of 1,800). In the 65 and over age band St. Helens was the highest again with 45,990 requests for support per 100,000 adults compared to the England rate of 13,065.
Figure 8: Number of requests for support per 100,000 adults, by age group and local authority, 2021-22
Source: SALT Collection, 2021-22, NHS Digital - See Table 12 in Data Tables.
Whilst in prison a detainee can request social care support. This route of access was made mandatory in the 2017-18 collection, although not all local authorities in England have a prison within their area. There were 3,170 (0.2% of all requests) requests for support via a prison route in 2021-22, up 755 requests since last year.
Route of access
Whilst requests for support have steadily increased over the last seven years, the proportions of requests for support by route of access have remained largely similar. The majority of all requests (79.1%, 1,564,350) originated from the community. The next highest category was discharge from hospital, where 18.7% (369,995) of all requests originated from. Planned entry, diversion from hospital, self-funders with depleted funds and prison referrals made up the remaining 2.2% of requests.
As seen in Figure 9 below, the proportion of requests differ by age group with a higher volume of 65 and over clients requesting support at the point of discharge from hospital.
Source: SALT Collection, 2021-22, NHS Digital - See Table 9 in Data Tables.
Outcomes to requests for support
The outcome of the request for support can be categorised into three main support areas; short term care to maximise independence (ST-Max), long term care, and other support. Around one in eight requests (12.0%) resulted in clients receiving short term care to maximise independence and 8.2% of requests resulted in long term care being provided to the client. These areas of support are covered in more detail later in the report.
Figure 10 below shows how outcomes of the requests for support by new clients differed by age group in 2021-22.
For 18-64 year olds, 5.3% of requests resulted in the client being offered ST-Max whereas for clients aged 65 and over, 15.0% of requests resulted in ST-Max.
Just over a third (33.6%) of requests from 18-64 year olds resulted in no services provided compared to just over a quarter (26.6%) of requests from those aged 65 and over. For both age bands combined, where no services were provided, there were 32,800 requests where the client died after requesting services, but before receiving any. This figure has decreased by 20.4% (8,410 requests) since 2020-21.
One in three (34.4%) requests for support from 18-64 year olds resulted in universal services or signposting to other services. This is an increase of 15,345 (7.9%) requests since last year. In comparison, nearly one in four (22.9%) requests for support from clients aged 65 and over result in universal services or signposting to other services.
When compared to 2020-21, for all ages combined there has been a shift away from Community long term care (7.3% of all requests in 2020-21 decreasing to 6.6% in 2021-22) and an uplift in Ongoing low level support (14.0% of all requests in 2020-21 increasing to 14.9% in 2021-22).
These request for support outcomes can sometimes be difficult to interpret and should not be seen as reflecting on the performance of a local authority, but more as a statement about the nature of request for support that was made.
Figure 10: Overview of requests for support relating to Adult Social care received by local authorities, 2021-22
Source: SALT Collection, 2021-22, NHS Digital - See Table 10 and 11 in Data Tables
Last edited: 16 February 2024 2:41 pm