Research published today by disability charity Revitalise has shown that 55% of England's Local Authorities have spent less overall on services for disabled people and carers since the introduction of the Care Act.

The survey showed that over half of England’s local authorities had spent £397 million less overall on services for disabled people and carers since the Care Act came into force.

The study also showed that 42% had reduced their spending on respite provision by an average of nearly £900,000 each.

The Revitalise study, based on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, found that local authorities gave fewer Needs Assessments for disabled people during the first year of the Care Act than in the year before it, and half (48%) had carried out an average of 22% fewer Carer Assessments during the same period.

A survey of disabled people and carers echoed the FOI findings. 

Over half (53%) of the disabled people and carers surveyed said the funding they received had been reduced or not kept pace with inflation over the past year. 

Two thirds said they felt more isolated and had been forced to reduce their time spent taking respite, and 44% said they were now struggling to make ends meet.

69% of disabled people and carers told the charity they were unaware of any changes to their entitlements as a result of the Care Act and 49% said the services they received had got worse since the Act’s introduction.

The disability charity is now calling for an overhaul of the Care Act to ensure all disabled people and carers within local authority jurisdictions are approached and offered Carer or Needs Assessments. 

In light of the research Revitalise are also urging central government to provide local authorities with additional funding to fulfil all the pledges contained within the Act.

The charity also wants the government to reconsider its position and ensure respite breaks are a fundamental element of all social care provision.

Revitalise Chief Executive Chris Simmonds commented: “For the first time in 60 years a piece of legislation has come along which purports to enshrine and protect the rights, dignity and independence of disabled people and carers, but it has become abundantly clear from our own research that the Care Act has failed to make any meaningful impact on the quality of life of the people it sets out to support – and in many respects their situation appears to have got worse. This is a tragedy.

“It is already well known that there is a massive and growing shortfall in adult social care budgets, which is expected to be around £4.3 billon by 2020, so it is hardly surprising that local authorities are struggling to implement the Care Act properly. In fact, local authorities raised concerns about implementing the Care Act long before it came into force.

“As a respite provider, the importance of regular time off – for carer and cared for alike – is well known to us, so it is very disheartening to find out that adequate funding for respite is one of the services that has diminished under the Care Act.”

“Despite its very laudable intentions, our fear is that until local authorities get squarely behind the principles of the Care Act – and the equally important issue of the shortfall in adult social care funding is addressed – disabled people and carers will continue to struggle to achieve even the most basic quality of life.”