Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, England - 2018-19 [PAS]

Gross current expenditure on adult social care by local authorities was £18.7 billion. This represents an increase of £807 million from the previous year, a 4.5% increase in cash terms and a 2.6% increase in real terms.

The area of care which saw the largest increase in expenditure was long term support, which increased by £674 million to £14.6 billion in 2018-19, an increase in cash terms of 4.8%.

1.9 million requests for adult social care support from 1.3 million new clients, for which an outcome was determined in the year, were received by local authorities in 2018-19. This was an increase of 3.8% since 2017-18. This is equivalent to 5,245 requests for support received per day by local authorities, an extra 195 requests per day over the last year.

Overall, the number of clients receiving long term care has decreased each year since 2015-16, to 841,850 in 2018-19. This has been mainly driven by a decrease in clients aged 65 and over receiving long term care, down 39,060 to 548,435 since 2015-16.

There has been an increase across three main activity measures for clients aged 18-64 since the previous year. Requests for support for which an outcome was determined in the year, up 26,515 or 5.1%. Completed episodes of Short Term care to maximise independence, up 6,005 or 20.1%. Clients receiving long term care support, up 1,030 or 0.4%.

The average cost of residential care for a person aged 65 and over rose from £604 per week in 2017-18 to £636 per week in 2018/19, while the average cost of nursing care for the same age band increased from £638 per week in 2017/18 to £678 per week in 2018/19.