While expenditure has risen every year since 2015-16, three main activity measures report mixed trends, so the increase in expenditure may be linked to the increasing costs in the provision of care.
Local authorities received 1,914,535 requests for support from new clients in 2018-19, an increase of 3.8% (70,615 requests) since 2018-19, and an increase of 5.7% since 2015-16[3]. At a local authority level, more than a half (85 of 152 local authorities) saw an increase in requests compared to last year.
The total number of completed episodes of short term care to maximise independence[4] [5] (ST-Max) was 255,275. This is an increase of 3.8% (9,240 episodes) from 2017-18. Eighty-six per cent (219,390) of these completed episodes were for adults aged 65 and over. The number of completed episodes of ST-Max for new clients increased by 5.1% compared to the previous year, whereas for existing clients the number of episodes dropped by 4.6%.
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 clients aged 65 and over receiving long term care, with numbers down 39,060 to 548,435 since 2015-16. However, the number of clients aged 18 to 64 receiving long term care has increased slightly over the period, increasing by 8,390 to 293,415 since 2015-16. More detail can be found in the long term care section of this report.
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. Some local authorities provided comments[6] regarding the change in expenditure for their authority, citing factors including the improved Better Care Fund and an increase in those requiring support for complex needs, leading to much higher costs of providing care.