Regional autism charities are calling for urgent intervention by central government to help social care providers avoid financial collapse.
They say they have written to the leaders of all the main political parties.
Robin Bush of Autism Together: “We have supported living services failing right now”
Shock to the system
The plea follows an April 2017 survey by Cordis Bright Viewfinder into the financial health of all social care sectors. The survey found that more than three in four (77 per cent) of autism providers are struggling financially. Nearly two-thirds were stagnating or shrinking. The report authors called the situation a ‘shock to the system’.
The autism charities making the plea are Autism Together, Autism East Midlands, Autism Sussex, the North East Autism Society and Kent Autistic Trust. They provide services such as residential care homes, supported living in the community and day services. They say that cash-strapped local authorities under-fund these services.
One in every hundred people in the country now has an autism diagnosis. This unique, lifelong condition remains the only disability to have its own Act of Parliament. The Autism Act (2009) recognises that general support strategies – such as those applying to people with learning disabilities and Down’s syndrome – do not work with autism. Autism-specific support workers require expensive and lengthy training to cope with complex mental and physical challenges.
Demands of the autism charities
The autism charities call for urgent action in four areas:
- Local authorities must pay hourly rates that reflect costs. The living wage and new sleep-in legislation have dramatically impacted the costs of service providers. Meanwhile, the rates local authorities are prepared to pay have not increased in tandem. Autism Together reports a £500,000 increase in costs in 2016/17. Meanwhile, it has one of the lowest hourly rates nationally (£13.55 per hour) for supported living.
- An end to the slashing of care packages. Social workers are now routinely slashing care packages without person-centred review meetings. They check only that the person with autism is ‘safe’ and abandon any concern for their quality of life.
- Increased co-operation from health and social care workers. Autism providers are finding it impossible to negotiate effectively with commissioners, who seem intent on cutting costs rather than considering wider options. One charity chief executive called the behaviour of commissioners “alarming”. He feared it would lead to “long-term catastrophe” in the form of dramatic rises in hospital admissions.
- Support workers must be paid what they’re worth. The charities report recruitment and retention of support workers is extremely challenging (average staff turnover in the sector is 27.5 per cent). Many workers are leaving their roles for less demanding and better paid jobs. One manager reported that a highly skilled and dedicated staff member had recently resigned and gone to work in a discount store.
Whirlwind of budget slashing
Robin Bush, chief executive of Autism Together, said: “We have supported living services failing right now because of this whirlwind of poorly considered budget slashing.
“We care deeply that Alan, a quiet man in his forties, is too scared to go home at night because his anxious flatmate is experiencing deep paranoia and displaying challenging behaviour. Social services will no-longer let us have a full-time support worker in the house to manage these vulnerable people. This house had worked exceptionally well for nearly eight years.”
Continual battle
Jane Howson, chief executive of Autism East Midlands, said: “This feels like a continual battle. We’ve had a very recent case of a gentleman with autism who was being extremely challenging to staff and other clients. We allocated a dedicated support worker to him and his behaviour improved dramatically.
“Despite the fantastic success of this case, his funding has been cut and his dedicated support worker removed. This short-term decision is likely to have long-term implications for him and us, as well as increase long-term costs.”
The autism charities state that council tax rises and injections of cash into social care alone will not resolve their issues. First, central and local government (whichever political party that may be) need to recognise that their costs are higher because they provide specialised services.
Published: 18 May 2017
