The Commons committee on communities and local government has published a report which says funding pressures within councils have become so acute that payments for elderly people’s residential care have dropped to as low as £2.25 an hour in some areas.
Almost half of care workers quit within a year of starting, the report said, and around a quarter have received zero training in dementia or how to administer medication.
It was also revealed that residents or their families who pay for private care are routinely subsidising clients who are funded by local authorities even though the services they receive are identical.
On average, those who fund their own care pay 43% more than council-funded residents in the same home for the same room and the same level of care.
MPs who compiled the report said the £2bn of extra social care funding announced in the last Budget is insufficient in the longer term and more radical solutions need to be found. These could include allowing councils to raise more money through local taxation.
The committee also urged a rethink of age-related public spending, such as the winter fuel allowance, to see if it could be better targeted at social care.
