Community Care Statistics, Social Services Activity, England - 2009-10, Further release

Access to Care

• During the year there were 2.12 million contacts from new clients made to CASSRs in England, an increase of 4 per cent from 2008-09 and an 8 per cent increase from 1.96 million in 2004-05.
• 1.09 million contacts required a further assessment or commissioning of ongoing service in 2009-10, this is a slight increase (less than 0.5 per cent) from 1.08 million in 2008-09.
• 1.03 million contacts were attended to solely at or near the point of contact this is an increase of 7 per cent from 957,000 in 2008-09.
• Of the 2.12 million contacts, around 540,000 (26 per cent) were self-referrals, 474,000 (22 per cent) were referred from Secondary Health sources (for example, by hospices or hospital wards), 304,000 (14 per cent) were referred by family, friends or neighbours, 272,000 (13 per cent) referrals were from Primary/Community Health. 60,000 clients (3 per cent) were from an unknown referral source; this percentage has remained similar in recent years.
• There were 699,000 new clients for whom the first assessment was completed during 2009-10, a slight increase (1 per cent) from 693,000 new clients for whom the first assessment was completed during 2008-09.
• Where the waiting time was known between first contact and completed assessment, 35 per cent were assessed within two days of the first contact (compared with 32 per cent in 2008-09), 62 per cent of clients were assessed within two weeks of first contact.
• There were 1.3 million existing service users with completed reviews reported in 2009-10, a fall of 5 per cent from 2008-09.

Packages of Care

• 1.70 million service users received services (following a community care assessment) during the year, this is a decrease of 5 per cent from 2008-09. Feedback from councils suggests that this fall is due to a number of technical reasons including data cleaning and changes to recording systems following the introduction of self directed support as well as to the wider use of grant funded services for those with a lower level of need. Councils have reported that there may be a further fall next year as this continues. This will help to explain reductions in packages of care mentioned elsewhere in this and the following sections, and the reduction in the number of reviews mentioned in the previous section.
• There were 491,000 new service users who were assessed in 2009-10 and went on to receive services which represents 29 per cent of all service users.
• The number of service users receiving nursing care decreased from 97,000 in 2008-09 to 90,000 in 2009-10, a fall of 7 per cent.
• The number of adults in residential care in 2009-10 was 215,000 (down 3 per cent from 2008-09), of which over three quarters (78 per cent) were aged 65 and over compared to 91 per cent aged 65 and over in nursing care.
• Of those new service users aged 18-64, 77 per cent had received all services within 2 weeks of their completed assessment, compared to 74 per cent in 2008-09. Of those service users aged 65 and over, 81 per cent had received all services within 2 weeks of their completed assessment, an increase of 1 percentage point from 2008-09.

Community Based Services

• The number of service users receiving community based services has decreased by 5 per cent from 1.54 million service users in 2008-09 to 1.46 million in 2009-10. Of those service users receiving community based services, 65 per cent were aged 65 and over.
• In 2009-10, 557,000 service users received home care, 512,000 service users received equipment and adaptations, 445,000 service users received professional support, 195,000 service users received day care services and 100,000 service users received meals. There were 166,000 service users in receipt of new/ existing direct payments and or personal budgets.
• For those service users receiving services as at 31 March 2010, 66 per cent were classified in the primary client type 'physical disability' while 21 per cent of service users were in primary client type 'mental health' and 10 per cent had a learning disability. Of the remainder, 1 per cent had a primary client group of substance misuse' and 2 per cent were other vulnerable people.
• The number of service users receiving direct payments has continued to rise steadily since 2004-05, with only 24,000 users receiving direct payments in 2004-05, compared to 107,000 in 2009-10.

Residential Care

• Since 31 March 2003 the number of supported residents has steadily declined with a fall of 53,300 residents (19 per cent) between 31 March 2003 and 2010, and a fall of 2 per cent (4,300) between 31 March 2009 and 2010.
• Numbers of supported residents in CASSR staffed homes have continued to decline since 31 March 2000 with a fall of 9 per cent to 18,000 between 2009 and 2010. The number of supported residents in independent residential care has decreased slightly by less than 1 per cent, from 149,400 in 2009 to 148,800 in 2010. Independent nursing provision fell by 3 per cent to 58,800 between 31 March 2009 and 2010.
• The percentage of supported residents in independent residential care has increased by 13 percentage points from 53 per cent in 2000 to 66 per cent in 2010; with the distribution of residents in council staffed homes decreasing by 10 percentage points to 8 per cent from 31 March 2000 to 2010. The percentage of supported residents in independent nursing care has fallen slightly by 2 percentage points from 29 per cent to 26 per cent over the same period.
• Of the 225,600 supported residents in registered accommodation, 77 per cent of all supported residents were aged 65 and over.
• Of supported residents aged 18 to 64 in registered accommodation, 59 per cent were people with learning disabilities, 21 per cent were people with mental illness or health, with 18 per cent being adults with a physical disability and the remaining 2 per cent were in the substance misuse and other vulnerable people category.
• There were a total of 64,600 permanent admissions to registered accommodation in 2009-10 which is a fall of 4 per cent from 67,200 in 2008-09.
• As at 31 March 2010, 4,210 service users were receiving care through an adult placement scheme an increase of 5 per cent from 2009.

Carers

• The number of carers who were offered an assessment was 458,000 in 2009-10 an increase of 4 per cent from 2008-09. Of the 458,000 carers offered an assessment or review between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010, 415,000 (91 per cent) were taken up and 43,000 carers declined an assessment during 2009-10.
• The majority of assessments and reviews completed are for carers caring for an adult with a physical disability at 291,000 in 2009-10, which is a 6 per cent increase from 275,000 in 2008-09 and an 18 per cent increase from 247,000 in 2005-06. 70,000 carers caring for adults with mental health needs received an assessment or review in 2009-10 this is an increase of 17 per cent from 60,000 in 2008-09.
• In 2009-10 387,000 carers received a service (including information and advice only) compared to 355,000 in 2008-09, an increase of 9 per cent. This represents 93 per cent of the carers assessed or reviewed which has increased from 89 per cent in 2008-09.
• There has been a 21 per cent increase in the number of carers receiving information only from 148,000 in 2008-09 to 179,000 in 2009-10. The numbers receiving carer specific services was 208,000 which has remained the same as 2008-09 but has increased by 47 per cent since 2005-06.

Access the data

The underlying data for this publication is available through our National Adult Social Care Intelligence Service (NASCIS) online analytical tool. NASCIS provides a set of analytical, query and reporting tools.

The data can be found in the NASCIS online analytical processing tool within the RAP and ASC-CAR tables. To access the data, you will need to complete the self registration process, this should only take you a couple of minutes.

Annex A revision note:

1. Of the 30 affected figures, those for service users with a mental health condition were most changed with the figure for "Unstaffed and Other" being incorrect by 14 per cent. The remaining figures for other care settings for mental health users were affected by between 0 per cent and 3 per cent. The figures for other service users types were affected much less with the figure for "Unstaffed and Other" for service users with a learning disability being incorrect by 1 per cent, but all other figures have either changed by less than 1 per cent or have remained unchanged.