Association of Adult Social Services warns cuts are making the care system “unsustainable”.

The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass) has announced that nearly 90% of councils in England no longer offer social care to people whose needs are ranked low to moderate despite the fact that the government says councils have been given an extra £1.1bn to help protect social care in 2014.

Charities across the UK are warning that hundreds of thousands of people needing care are struggling without help, as when applying for social care needs are assessed as either critical, substantial, moderate or low.

In recent years the number of councils able to help those at the lower end of the scale has gone down as they struggle to balance their budgets. In 2010-11, Adass says 72% of councils in England only offered help with care to adults with substantial or critical needs. The association says that figure has now risen to 89%.

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