Care Numbers

More people are receiving adult social care in England following years of decline, official data shows.

Councils funded long-term care packages for 858,720 people during 2023-24, up 2.8% on the year before, according to NHS England’s annual adult social care activity and finance report.

This took the number receiving care back up to levels last seen in 2017-18 and follows a 6.3% fall.

Alongside this, councils boosted the number of short-term care packages they delivered to maximise people’s independence, often known as reablement services. The number of these grew by 12.2% last year, from 251,255 to 281,850.