The provision of adult social care continues to come under increasing pressure across the UK as the proportion of elderly people in the population continues to grow. In addition, demand for NHS services in England will increase substantially during the next decade due to health care conditions such as diabetes, asthma or dementia set to rise from 1.9 million in 2008 to 2.9 million in 2018.

In July last year, Margaret Hodge – MP and chair of the Committee of Public Accounts – said that the Government is facing a ‘great adult social care squeeze', with the need for care growing while public funding is falling. There was an 8% real term cut in spending on adult social care between 2010/11 and 2012/13.