“A gloriously ordinary life”

Adult social care is everyone's business

Adult social care affects the lives of over 10 million people in England, including those who draw on care and support, unpaid carers and paid care workers. 

Over the coming years it will affect all of us, one way or another. It’s everyone’s business. 

Throughout our inquiry, we have tried to establish what social care should be about.

Disabled adults and older people, as well as unpaid carers, frequently pointed to the vision described by the social movement Social Care Future.

These are modest, ordinary ambitions. Social care is the extra support that should be provided to those who might need it to achieve them.

The reality on the ground is very different. Nearly all our witnesses spoke passionately about a system which is underfunded, understaffed and which can only focus on the most basic personal care needs of a small number of people. 

This kind of assumption has framed adult social care policy. The consequence is that social care services are not designed to give people an equal opportunity to live a fruitful and valuable life.

More choice and control

We want to see a situation in which people who draw on care and support have the same choice and control over their life as everyone else.

Disabled adults and older people must be in full control of their care, and the support they receive should be tailored to their needs and ambitions.

We must also expand the solutions that enable people to live independent lives, such as direct payments and personal assistance.

Our social care system is largely based on the assumption that families will simply “step up” to provide unpaid care for each other. Estimates show that unpaid care could have a value of up to £132 billion per year.

But this assumption is unfair, both on people who draw on care and on unpaid carers.

This is unsustainable. Instead, we want to see an adult social care system that does not rely on the expectation that families will provide unpaid care and support for each other.

This means that people should be able to choose what care they receive and from whom — and support should be available equally, whether they wish to draw on unpaid care, on paid care, or on a mix of both.

The expectations that families will provide care have a huge impact on the lives of unpaid carers.

Carers are physically, emotionally and financially exhausted by the pressure to provide support that is placed on them.

They often have to give up their own lives to care, without any recognition or formal support.

This can’t be right. The social care system cannot continue to rely on an invisible workforce that is at breaking point.

We want to see a situation where, if it is a person’s wish to involve an unpaid carer, there is appropriate support from the Government to ensure that the unpaid carer and the person who draws on care can both thrive.

This support should come in the form of better financial compensation, access to short breaks, and more flexibility for carers to juggle their work and caring duties.

These changes are necessary for us all to live ordinary, meaningful lives, and to create the kinds of communities where we all look out for one another.

We must adopt a more positive definition of adult social care, which draws on the work of the Social Care Future, is based on principles of co-production and celebrates social care as a form of social and economic investment we make in ourselves as a society.

Find out more

We have made our recommendations to the Government and it has two months to respond to our report.

Read the full report on our website.

Find out more about our inquiry and our committee.

Follow us on Twitter on @HLAdultCare and use the hashtag #HLAdultSocialCare for updates and to join the conversation.