Public sector: Cuts put elderly care back to families

FAMILIES will be faced with having to adopt far greater responsibility in caring for elderly and infirm relatives in the wake of theGovernment's swingeing public sector cutbacks, a Yorkshire council's chief executive warned yesterday.

York Council's most senior officer, Kersten England, revealed that a radical overhaul of care services in the city would need to be enforced to cope with the expected dramatic fall in funding from Westminster – despite demand soaring.

Ms England admitted that the current provision of care would be unsustainable if funding were cut and the public would have to take on more responsibility to help to ensure adequate services could continue to be provided.

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She said there was not enough money to go around, both nationally and locally, and added: "Demand for adult care services is increasing, especially in cities such as York which have an ageing population. At the same time, people want to have more choice about the care which they are being offered.

"We are going to have to have some often tough and difficult

conversations with families in the future, as they will undoubtedly have to take on more responsibilities themselves."

It has been estimated that the demands for care services from the elderly in York alone will cost an extra 7m annually by 2020 – an increase of more than 40 per cent on current spending if no contingency plans are put in place.

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The city council is planning for a 77 per cent rise in the number of people aged 85 and over in the next 20 years but York Council is predicting it will have to slash its annual 200m revenue budget by 50m over the next four financial years to counter a shortfall in Government funding.

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