State of the Nation Report 2024
Our latest report reveals a staggering
222% increase in the number of requests for social care information.
Today marks the release of our annual State of the Nation report, which reveals a significant increase in the number of requests for social care advice across nine major advice and helpline organisations.
The report paints a desperate picture of the current social care system, with the rise in demand for advice far outstripping the available resources.
The nationwide data in this year's report showed a 222% increase in the number of enquiries about social care needs assessments compared to pre-pandemic, as well as a 206% increase in enquiries that required specialist social care legal advice. The report compares data across three-time frames: pre-pandemic 2019-2020; the pandemic year 2021-2022; and finally, the post-pandemic year 2023-2024.
The report is clear: vast numbers of people continue to struggle with accessing social care support.
Access Social Care is a charity providing free legal advice for people with social care needs. Its fourth annual State of the Nation report is a data collaboration project bringing together anonymised data from Royal Mencap Society, Age UK, Carers UK, Independent Age, RNIB, Ealing Advice Service, Citizens Advice Bureau and Scope. The resulting report draws together over 364,000 separate data points and outlines the key challenges facing people who need social care.
The report also revealed:
96% more advocacy queries
204% more unpaid carers queries,
7 times as many mental capacity queries
“Data collaboration projects like this are vitally important because they allow us to see the real issues experienced by people who need social care across a range of organisations. Year after year this report highlights serious problems experienced by social care advice seekers, and our 2024 report is no exception. We hope this report can serve as a springboard to support positive change. We are calling for parties across the political spectrum to act now to understand the scale of social care need and to take decisive and immediate action to solve short term and long term pressures on the social care system.”
“These stark figures speak for themselves and highlight the concerning number of challenges facing hundreds of thousands of people trying to access social care in England today.”
“It is widely acknowledged that the resources available for social care have not risen at the same rate as demand. Yet data gathered on this critical issue by local authorities and central government remains inadequate. To fully understand the level of both rising demand and existing service provision, social care data must improve.”
In response to this issue, Access Social Care’s State of the Nation report provides a unique insight into the challenges facing millions of people across the country in need of social care. This trailblazing research will be shared annually and used as evidence to drive policy change and shine a light on a system in desperate need of reform.
