A charity has called for an ‘urgent solution' to the care crisis as a study revealed councils received nearly two million requests for adult social care support from new clients last year.

A report published by NHS Digital showed that local authorities received 1.9 million requests for adult social care support from new clients in 2018/19 - the equivalent to 5,245 requests for support each day - which marks an increase of 3.8% on 2017/18.

Local authority spending on adult social care rose to £18.7bn in 2018/19, a real-terms increase of 2.6%.

Associate director of the Centre for Ageing Better, Dr Alison Giles, said an ‘urgent solution' was required for the social care crisis.

She said: ‘Demand is growing and resources are stretched so right now only people with the highest levels of need get help.

‘The risk is that those with less serious conditions will miss out on the care they need now, leading them to need much greater and potentially more costly support in the long run.

‘Disability, frailty and some forms of dementia can be prevented or delayed so we must put more resource and effort into helping people to stay healthy and independent for as long as possible.'