Spending review affects publicy funded home care and mobility allowance

The Government’s announced cuts on the back of the comprehensive spending review will see local government funding decrease by 28% over the financial years 2010/11 to 2014/15. As a consequence next year could see cuts for adult social care of 7%. According to Age UK such cuts would result in 250,000 older people losing access to publicly funded care. Within this group it is believed 100,000 would go without care due to their inability to fund themselves privately.

Similarly, plans to cut the mobility component of disability living allowance for state-funded care home residents have seen protests from disabled people, their families and support charities. The fear is that the cuts will leave affected people stripped of their independence in being able to get to hospital appointments, to visit the dentist and see their friends and family, all of which will affect their quality of life. Major disability charities are joining forces to seek to overturn the policy.