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 don't understand why? Or how the two are related?

(I also don't think minimum wage is high enough but I think it's a separate issue).

You want to Euthanise disabled children ?
This thread is quite sickening .

One thing is that Govs legislate for this stuff - so rather than say to a council do the best you can with a budget they say the law requires you to provide x,y, z - regardless of cost which is a bit crazy.
i live in the countryside and taxis for sen kids costs a fortune . I would think there could be a requirement for families to move nearer the school or an offer of a nearby social housing house - I can’t believe the parents are all housebound but somehow don’t do the drive to school. - the council has to provide it.

Everyone is an individual with all these rights.

Too told for what?

People talk about so many more autistic people these days as though that's some big gotcha. Haha it's fake.

Well no. Understanding has improved and the 'weird' kids of previous generations are now recognised. Thats a good thing because they can be supported.

Severely autistic kids are no longer put away where nobody sees them or even knows they exist. Good thing.

Go back further and look at the claim there never used to be autism.

Ever heard of changelings? Across many cultures there were similar. Your child was developing typically then one day, for no reason, they changed. Withdrew. Totally different. A whole mythology built up around them. Your child was taken in the night and replaced. Sound familiar?

That needs to be tackled separately if they try to expand it. You can have assisted dying without involving disabled people.

This is not true. Private equity firms absolutely are making a lot of money from social care. They are very good at hiding it, its often baked into services charges, high interest rates on debt, property rents, but believe me the profit is there.

Education is as bad & worse. Look up the Witherslack group. They charge councils school fees at 100k a year, and are making on average 13k per kid pure profit. Thats more in profit than a state school receives to fund a pupil all in.

Biologically too old! Older sperm & ageing mothers hugely increases odds of genetic issues & autism.

We should be having babies in our 20s, this is when reproductively we are at our best.

Rent. Insurance, utilities and staffing. All of these costs are astronomical, for all businesses.

considering how hard respite is to come by even at that cost shows how much effort it is.

we organised privately for carers for a 3 day holiday paying double. Still cancelled the day before. For most people the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

There are four special schools in my LA with 200+ children in each not to mention several autism hubs and PRUs thats alot of social housing that would be needed .
My son has been going to a special school for 13 years he has always travelled by mini bus with several other children .
Hsve you ever bern to a special school at drop off and pick up times?
The one my son attends is for children with severe and profound learning disabillties its like a militry operation getting 200+ children safely on and off transport , what they dont need is parents whst they dont need is childdrn being dropped off by parents in dribs and drabs it would be chaotic for everyone.

Realistically and economically this makes the most sense, GP, supermarket, assistance and safeguarding office. Full scale supported living much lower costs and assisted to work in roles in the community where possible

Yeah and they could have their own farms and shops and workshops to make things
Jist like the old asylums....

I was going to argue @LotOfWork point, because I hate this narrative around “greedy” business’s. So often, it isn’t true.
However, a quick google suggests that private equity and institutional finance are very heavily involved in the provision of children’s social care in the UK. Believe me, they won’t do anything without a significant return.

Hmm...

I'm sure I read somewhere before about the State rounding up disabled people and transporting them all to a central point. Didn't end well IIRC

And financially at our worst.

Re the age thing. While age can be a factor, it is no guarantee.

I had my children in my mid 20s. They are both autistic. My sister had her daughter at 19. ND.

My mum had me when she was 19, I was born the day after my dad's 19th birthday.

Ask me if I am autistic...

Isn’t the cost older adults due to sheer numbers?

50% is spent on the 65+

In English local authority budgets, spending on adult social care is roughly 1.6 times higher than spending on children's services, though both consume the vast majority of council funding

Oh yes, there is a LOT of money being made in the care sector. It's just not ending up being used to improve the care sector.

Are they making that much -you’d expect so but why not build more and pay more so you can get the staff if it’s so lucrative?

If someone is 'able' enough to have a job in the community, they can probably live independently with a minimal care package.

Rather than going to university you mean. Or travelling or having short term partners for fun? Women are not just incubators. What about the men, if they're not interested, shall we have them anyway and be single parents?

Of course it won’t be! Private Equity and Private Finance do not invest for anything other than a sizeable return. There is a reason Mars has invested so heavily in vets practices in the UK, and it’s not because they love animals! It’s scandalous and I had no idea that this happened in children’s social care.

It's too slippery a slope and part of the conversation that needs to be had before legislation comes into play so everyone is aware.

Yp without capacity already have 'best interest' decisions made for them by tge state unless a parent manages to get deputyship which is difficult to obtain for health and welfare. The UK already has over 1000 plus people with LD/ autism locked away in conditions worse than prisons because it is cheaper than care in the community, the concern over euthanasia for people like this and their families is very real and shouldn't be dismissed.

https://www.learningdisabilitytoday.co.uk/debate/locked-up-stories-from-behind-doors/

These people haven't broken any laws and done anything wrong but get fed through hatches in segregation etc because it's cheaper. Do you really think euthanasua is that big of a jump if it became law?

By privatising Care you turn it into a cartel of sorts. The only reason people start private enterprise is to make money. In order to do that when you have open competition you need to keep overheads as low as possible, and that's much easier to do if all of your competition is paying their staff much the same rate, your costs are much the same, etc etc

The problem with the notion of increasing investment to improve the service is, that when the vast bulk of your income is not from private clients but from local authorities, there isn't going to be a resultant increase in your income which reflects the increased investment. The LA demands a bare minimum level of service, and pays you to provide precisely that. They aren't about to start paying you more just because your service exceeds their stipulations.

In short, there is no benefit whatsoever (i.e. increased profit) to Care companies if they were to spend more, so there is no incentive for them to do that, meaning Care is just going to continue to be provided at the lowest possible cost, wages at the bare minimum etc.

By privatising everything the UK has just created a race to the bottom. It's exactly the same in most of the formerly Nationalised industries, only with Care it's the people who actually rely on the service for basic needs who bear the brunt of it.

But this could be applied to two people who have LD or Autism or adhd or certain MH issues etc etc

lots of things are hereditary or have increased risks when both parents have it. Where’s the line?

The main issue is, that in the past, care was provided within the family setting.
Our current level of care provision is unsustainable. Thats why it's failing so many people. As a society we need to re think our whole concept of care, work and associated costs to individuals as well as families.

Unfortunately I do not have an answer. Other than working people picking up the ever increasing costs. And that in itself is unsustainable.