Care Act 2014: 10 years on – survey of lead members

Key findings

• Three in ten respondents were not very confident or not at all confident that their council would meet all of its statutory duties in the 2025/26 financial year
• Over seven in ten said that their council very or frequently spent less money on other council services, in order to protect adult social care spending, over the last 10 years
• Workforce recruitment and retention was the issue facing the sector that was most frequently ranked among its biggest challenges, ranked by 77 per cent of respondents
• Eight in ten said that the 2014 Care Act’s legislation is fit for purpose for the adult social care sector
• A large majority (86 per cent) thought that it is very or fairly important to implement the delayed charging reforms laid out in the Care Act
• All respondents (100 per cent) agreed that not enough emphasis is placed on preventing or reducing sickness before it occurs
• Ninety per cent agreed that adult social care benefits from being a local service delivered by local councils
• Over half (56 per cent) said that the narrative around adult social care should focus largely on positive messages, with some negative messages