Community Care Statistics, England - 2008-09, Social services activity report

Access to Services

• An estimated 2.04 million contacts from new clients were made to Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities (CASSRs) in England in 2008-09. This figure has shown a decrease of 1 per cent from 2.06 million in 2007-08.
• 1.08 million of these contacts (53 per cent) resulted in further assessment of need or the commissioning of ongoing services, and 957,000 (47 per cent) contacts were attended to solely at or near the point of contact.
• Of the 2.04 million referrals, 539,000 (26 per cent) were self-referrals; 465,000 (23 per cent) were referred from Secondary Health sources (e.g. hospital wards); 306,000 (15 per cent) were referred by family, friends or neighbours; with a further 261,000 (13 per cent) referrals from Primary/Community Health. The remaining 23 per cent were split between internal, Local Authority (LA) housing department, other LA, legal agency, other referrals and where the source of referral was unknown.
• There were an estimated 693,000 new clients for whom the first assessment was completed during 2008-09. This is an increase of 5 per cent from 660,000 in 2007-08.
• In respect of waiting times for new clients aged 65 and over, 32 per cent of all new older clients had their assessment completed within 2 days of first contact and 62 per cent were assessed within 2 weeks. This is a decrease of 3 percentage points on the 2007-08 figure of 65 per cent complete within 2 weeks.
• Around 1.37 million reviews for existing clients were carried out in 2008-09, a rise of 2 per cent from 1.34 million in 2007-08.

Packages of Care

• An estimated 1.78 million clients were receiving services during 2008-09, this is a slight increase from 2007-08. 28 per cent (495,000) of the 1.78 million clients receiving services during 2008-09 were new clients.
• An estimated 1.22 million (68 per cent), of those receiving services as part of a package of care following an assessment, were aged 65 and over.
• 1.54 million (86 per cent of all clients receiving services) received community based services (this is a slight increase from the 2007-08 figure), 222,000 received residential care and 97,000 received nursing care (down 4 per cent from 102,000 in 2007-08).
• 80 per cent of new older clients had received all services specified in their care plan within 2 weeks of their completed assessment. A further 11 per cent waited up to 4 weeks for all services to be provided.

Community Based Services

• In 2008-09, of the 1.54 million clients receiving community-based services, 582,000 clients received home care; 547,000 clients received equipment and adaptations; 501,000 received professional support (e.g. occupational therapy), 214,000 received day care and 121,000 received meals as a service following assessment. Clients receiving more than one type of community-based service are included for each service received so there will be some double counting.
• Most services (72 per cent) were received by clients classified in the primary client type 'physical disability, frailty and sensory impairment' while 18 per cent of clients were in primary client type 'mental health'.
• 86,000 adults aged 18 and over received direct payments during the year. This is an increase of 29 per cent from 67,000 in 2007-08.

Residential Care

• Since 2003 there has been a steady decline in the number of supported residents with a fall of 3 per cent between 2008 and 2009 to 229,900
• Numbers of supported residents in CASSR staffed homes have continued to decline with a 9 per cent fall from 22,000 at 31 March 2008 to 20,000 at 31 March 2009.
• The number of clients placed in adult placements was 4,000 at 31 March 2009, an increase of 36 per cent from 2,900 in 2008.

Carers

• 398,000 carers received a carer's assessment or review during 2008-09, either separately or jointly with the client. 142,000 (36 per cent) of these carers were assessed or reviewed separately from the person they cared for.
• Of the 398,000 carers assessed or reviewed, an estimated 355,000 carers (89 per cent) received a service following a carer's assessment or review. Of these, 58 per cent received 'carer specific' services, and 42 per cent received information and advice only.
• The majority of assessments and reviews completed are for carers caring for an adult with a physical disability at 275,000 in 2008-09 which was a very slight decrease from 276,000 in 2007-08. 60,000 carers caring for adults with mental health needs received an assessment or review in 2008-09 this is an increase of 15 per cent from 52,000 in 2007-08.
• In 2008-09 355,000 carers received a service (including information and advice only) compared to 337,000 in 2007-08.
• There has been a 15 per cent increase in the number of carers receiving information only from 128,000 in 2007-08 to 148,000 in 2008-09. The numbers receiving carer specific services was 208,000 which is slightly lower than the 2007-08 figure of 209,000.

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.

To access the data, you will need to complete the self registration process, this should only take you a couple of minutes.

This publication was previously released in provisional form on 30 September 2009 as Community Care Statistics: Social Services Activity, England - Councils with Adult Social Services Responsibilities tables, provisional, 2008-09.

The final data from this publication is now available above.

If you need access to the earlier, provisional figures please contact us.