With an increasingly elderly population in the UK, the issues and pressures surrounding adult social care are continuing to mount.

Family carers need greater support, but those taking on the role of carer must be increasingly monitored.

Older people choosing to stay independent and in their own homes are facing greater levels of poverty. Only last week it was revealed a high percentage of pensioners living on their own confine themselves to one room to save on heating bills, yet thousands still die each winter.

For those choosing or being forced into residential care, another plethora of problems awaits the unlucky ones. Newspapers are continually leading on how older people in care are facing bullying, starvation and neglect.

But perhaps one of the most worrying issues recently highlighted by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) is the revelation that older people paying for their own care can pay as much as £30,000 a year for a room in a care home, but not know exactly what this pays for.

A fair contract for older people, published last month, also revealed fees between residents in the same care home can vary staggeringly when people paying for their own care end up subsidising individuals paid for by the local council, who have negotiated lower rates.

The report calls for greater clarity for those making crucial decisions when looking for care, greater clarity over care home fees and more accessible information.
‘This report offers key messages, to councils about insuring there is enough money in the system to meet the true costs of care, to providers who must ensure
residents get good quality information, and for CSCI who are regulating councils,' says Community Care Association chief executive Martin Green.

A major challenge for councils to address, according to the report, is to ensure councils commissioning care services are addressing the needs of their entire population, whether people are funding their own care or not, and are providing a range and diversity of care services. Good information is ‘crucial' for people to make well-informed choices at all stages of their lives.

CSCI chief executive Paul Snell says he hopes the report encourages and assists councils to look at their levels of service in this area.

‘Information is important to people, never more so than when we have to make choices that have a big impact on our lives,' he says.

‘Information services are sometimes seen as marginal in busy councils. We believe they are an essential area for investment because they are so closely linked to wellbeing for the people who need care.'

The realisation that information and clarity is lacking was the result of a mystery shopper exercise. The key findings revealed:

The report states councils have a ‘key role' in developing the local care market and commissioning for all the communities they serve – not just for those people whose care they expect to fund. If they do not consider the supply of services for their whole population, this could result in ‘shortages and higher fees'.

They should be closely involving older people from all communities to develop a portfolio of services to offer genuine choice for people, both innovative alternatives to residential care and in high-quality local care homes.

Increasing the focus on issues facing older people, providing more information and offering the right care, could lead to the step change which keeps older people central figures in society and not second class citizens.