Social care chiefs fear system faces collapse, survey shows

More older people and citizens with disabilities will be denied state-funded care support over the next two years as local authority finances continue to take a battering from funding cuts, social care chiefs have warned.

The scale and severity of the financial squeeze is laid bare in a survey which shows that by April councils in England will have stripped out £2.7bn from adult social care services since 2010 - equivalent to 20% of their care budgets - even as demand for services continues to rise.

Many recipients of basic state-funded care such as help with washing and eating, or meals on wheels, could face a reduced service, while others will lose out on care support altogether.

Sandie Keene, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), which carried out the survey, said that although councils had made substantial savings through making services more efficient it was increasingly difficult to shield vulnerable people from the cuts.

She said: "Some of the people we have responsibilities for may be affected by serious reductions in service - with more in the pipeline over the next two years."