State of social care in England ‘never been so bad’, social services boss warns

Councils receiving 5,400 new requests for help each day while capacity has reduced significantly

The state of social care in England has never been so bad", the country's leading social services chief has said, with half a million people now waiting for help.

Sarah McClinton, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), told a conference of council care bosses in Manchester: The shocking situation is that we have more people requesting help from councils, more older and disabled with complex needs, yet social care capacity has reduced and we have 50,000 fewer paid carers."