Cost of social care. Aibu

[Onlyifyouknewthetruth2026]

My son gets overnight respite 2 nights a month. Not a great amount but still respite. I have attached a pic showing the annual cost which is alot. Just for reference.

Got me thinking about social care and money.
With a aging population and more calls for social care no wonder it's on its knees
Im curious what others think about the cost.

I think sadly we will have to have an unsettling conversation about whether (for example) £50,000 worth of therapy that results in the person being able to recognise a nursery rhyme or similar is actually worth it. Or whether we need to be more realistic about the limits of people and instead focus on the practicalities of providing them with basic care and supervision.

We wanted a change to our package which would have cost the LA £300 ish a month in total. We ended up fighting with the LA who wanted us to have overnight respite at approx £2000 per night.

We eventually got the cheaper package that we wanted after getting to a stage 3 complaint.

As an aside to the carers allowance issue (being so low for what many of us do), adult social care take away a fair chunk of an adults benefits leaving families with next to nothing to support their lived one with in terms of heating, clothes, food etc when they live at home (not chc funding) so it actually costs families to look after their loved one rather than putting them in supported living etc which cost a hell of a lot more.

The system is more than broken.

I will never understand with adult social care why people are allowed to have, is it £23.5k of their own money, and then start taking from the taxpayer towards funding. Surely you should use all your own money first. Get it down to say the last £7.5k, enough to pay for a funeral and take all the rest first.
And means test AA. My millionaire MIl who worked five years her whole life gets nearly £450pm in her bank she doesn’t need and doesn’t spend.

I agree 100% about the Carer’s allowance. My son attends a council run unit.
I don’t know what the answer is. I do know that before that support we were at crisis point to the point I thought i couldn't go on anymore full stop.

Thats pennies to be honest for a yearly cost.

Some social care placements for children can be 15k, 20k a week

Sheer profiteering by providers

But the problem is no one wants to do this job.

My Dad pays £8k a month for his care home.

My 2 Autistic dc lost their Personal Budgets this summer so we can't access any respite.

They can't attend mainstream activities so there was no break all summer. Im a single parent, no support network or family...

Thats only 7k a week, thats around the standard cost of a residential children's home. We would see that as cheap/reasonable/normal.

I think elderly care is much cheaper per week for full time care, but theres more elderly so adults social care spend more overall. But children's placements are much more expensive per child.

@SupernaturalAddict you had to fight the LA for a cheaper package?

What were they arguing about?

I don’t pretend to be an expert, but we’ve got friends who are really pushing their son to be able to do stuff like this and he seems to be more unhappy every time we see him

I think he’s being pushed to do things that he can’t do or doesn’t want to do, but not my relative so I can’t say anything. Of course it’s really important that he’s properly looked after. I don’t know if some of the other activities are important and he doesn’t seem to enjoy them….but the LA seems to push them. Is that because they make a profit out of them I don’t even know.

They didn't want to issue a pb and wanted us to use their providers- we'd had a serious safeguarding incident with a provider and didn't want respite to be provided in that same way.

I was expecting them to jump at our cheaper solution.

Its because if he is in care or has a care package (is this a child or adult?) he will have a care plan and out of that plan needs to be a number of outcomes to progress and provide holistic aims for life development, physical, emotional, social, psychological, environmental. So for example is he able to dress himself and if not, what could be put in place for him to have as much autonomy as possible to enable this, even if its to contribute to choices about whether he wants the blue or red top on today. Toileting, eating, leisure, sleep, meds, identity, many many other areas of his life.

Whether CQC or Ofsted registered, providers, whether private or LA, will need to show how they are supporting this person to live as independent a life as possible. It wouldnt do just to have a care plan where the status quo is just maintained for years and years.

I dont say any of this is realistic but this is how it works. And that costs a lot of money.

@likelysuspect he’s a child
I know they have these outcomes, but I’m suspicious about why

It’s not something I would normally ever discuss because I realise it’s very sensitive subject, but every so often I feel really sad when I think there’s quite high expectations on him when the reality is we know he will never never independently or even get to reading ages an adult. It just feels like they put loads of pressure on him and then actually his parents do too, but that’s the Advice they’ve been given that he should hit certain benchmarks…

I feel like it’s unrealistic and not good for him.

That's peanuts.What about £27 000 a week! No I'm not joking

It’s crazy figures.

When we seem to be having more and more children born with disabilities we cannot afford to pay those types of placements for them.

But it’s expected to be and I’m sure lots will be very man when the coin flips back the other way which it will have to at some point.

I agree. People always blame 'the aging population' but if they knew how much learning disability costs. All needed of course and happy to pay for it, but its way more than older people cost.

I dont disagree. See social work, social care, psychological theory about human/child development.

Everything is about change and development. Being better, making better changing this that and the other - what support can be put in place to change this, what interventions can you use to change this.

Not always realistic, its anathema to say that 'I think this is as much as this person is ever going to be able to do'.

Blame society, its a symptom of wanting more and more in all areas.

The cost will cover staffing, management, premises, utilities. £63 an hour includes £30 in staff costs I suspect, minimum as that’s including all the other expenses of employment. Sounds a lot but i suspect it’s pretty specialist.

my dsd has 1:1 in the house and 2:1 out of the house and lives full time in a shared care facility (adult) it is very expensive, but it’s a very high level of medical care so all staff have to be medically trained

Yes we have one just below that at the moment.

I dont work with children with LD or physical disabilities specifically, although some do within the cohort but our placements are regularly around the 20k a week mark for full time residential care. Often these are just bog standard childrens homes.

Sorry the 28k a month was an educational placement, not a residential one. I should’ve been more specific.

Unfortunately, the Conservative government policies were to cut (and cut)LA budgets.

LA’s have statutory duties that must be met.

The LA did not have the budget to meet these statutory duties hence private companies filling the gap.

Private companies make profits. Shareholders and company CEO’s need to be paid.

This applies to adult social care, childcare, children’s social care etc. It is not unusual for children’s services to have to pay out six figure sums, per year, per child for residential school places.

How would this be cheaper?

I am not surprised especially as he requires a 1-1 sit in. Then there is the onsite nurse, night manager, hearing and electric. It is extortionate, it stacks up.

That IS the cost of basic care and supervision for someone with specialist needs though.

We aren't talking someone who will sit in a chair and stare at a TV screen, drooling in to their soup. We're talking people who will headbutt walls until they cause brain damage, pick and eat their continence products, hurt themselves or others. People who cannot be left unsupervised for a moment. Lots need constant 1:1 supervision, some 2:1. Some are resistant (violent) to having care needs met and needs additional intervention to remain hygienic and prevent skin breakdown and infection. Some need specialist padded rooms.

We aren't talking therapy to improve their situation, we are talking basic care that doesn't involve sedation and constant physical restraint.

I don't know what the alternative is but I don't want people thinking that these costs are about niceties.

The normal rate is about 13.50 per hour direct payment plus a couple of who’s for NI / insurance and use of payroll or £27 per hour agency