Question reference: S6W-01841
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 23 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 17 August 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in the last 12 months, how many people have (a) been assessed for free personal care and (b) received a care package and, of these, how many included personal care, also broken down by how many were (i) existing and (ii) new recipients of care packages.
Answer
The exact information requested is not held centrally. The most relevant and latest information available is provided below.
The Quarterly Monitoring Return, from which data on community care assessments is derived, was paused last year to reduce pressure on Local Authorities as they dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. The Scottish Government is currently reviewing its paused social care collections and considering how best to move them forward.
Data on people receiving social care support is collected and published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). The latest publication available covers data for 2018-19. PHS have collected data for 2019-20 and data for 2020-21 is currently being collected. These data will be published in due course.
(a) how many people have been assessed for free personal care in the last 12 months
The information requested is not held centrally. The Scottish Government collects information on the number of people who have a completed community care assessment through its Quarterly Monitoring Return. The latest information shows that in January to March 2018, there were 7,326 people aged 65+ with a completed community care assessment. However, this number includes all community care assessments and does not break down to personal care assessments only. The full figures can be viewed on the Scottish Government website: https://www.gov.scot/publications/eligibility-criteria-and-waiting-times/ .
(b) how many people have been given a care package in the last 12 months
The exact information requested is not held centrally. Public Health Scotland collects social care information directly from Health and Social Care Partnerships. This covers care at home, self-directed support, telecare and care homes. The latest available data covers 2018-19.
The following table shows the available information on people receiving care packages and personal care, new and existing in 2018-19. A full account for Scotland is unavailable (as detailed in the footnotes) and the actual numbers may be higher. A ‘care package’ includes anyone receiving care at home, all care home residents 5 and/or receiving care through self-directed support. It is from this same cohort of people personal care has been counted.
Number of people who received a care package during 2018-19 | Number of people receiving personal care during 2018-19 | |
Existing/ all active clients | 167,316 | 140,466 |
New recipient | 63,937 | 51,194 |
Notes
1. 2018/19 data has been used as the most recent full year available for all support and services.
2. Orkney HSCP were unable to submit self-directed support, home care and care home data for 2018-19. Western Isles HSCP were unable to provide care home data for 2018-19. Aberdeen City were also not able to submit self-directed support data for 2018-19 therefore these were not included in analysis above. Scotland figures provided represent all areas submitted.
3. A new recipient refers to people who received care for the first time in financial year 2018-19. People returning after a break in care are not counted as new therefore not included in the analysis.
4. Personal care refers to all personal care rather than free personal care. People under 65 paid for this prior to 1 April 2019.
5. All care home residents refer to long stay, short stay and respite residents and all are assumed to be receiving 'personal care'.
Source: Public Health Scotland