Demand for social care for older people stretching system to 'breaking point'
The government is facing unprecedented pressure to put more money into a social care that can no longer cope.
With the Autumn Statement due next week, councils, charities and NHS bosses in England have warned the systemis at breaking point, with many elderly and vulnerable people unable to get the help they need.
I travelled to Liverpool where over the past six years the money available to fund social care packages has been cut by half.
Social care is paid for by councils, not the NHS. But unlike the health service, their budgets have not been protected from the government's austerity measures.
It means Liverpool has seen its overall council budget cut by half since 2010, losing £330m.
But since then demand for social care has spiralled as the population ages, with 3000 more annual assessments than six years ago.
Like other councils, Liverpool was given the option last April of upping its council tax by 2% to help pay for social care.
The money raised doesn't even cover the extra cost of giving carers the National Living Wage.
It means that more people are getting an ever smaller share of the diminishing adult social care budget.
The £222 million spent on it by Liverpool in 2010 is now a very distant memory, against just £130 million available today.
It's a perfect storm of growing demand and dwindling funds that's stretching the NHS to its limits across the country.
September saw the highest number of delayed discharges - that's people waiting for social care packages before they can leave hospital - since records began.
Remember, those are not winter figures when the crisis normally deepens.
But it means the NHS is now consistently reporting longer waiting times and missed targets as it struggles to find enough beds.
The government points out there are increases in social care funding planned later in this parliament.
But with the autumn statement exactly a week away council leaders, charities, NHS bosses, even some senior Tories are adamant.
Either the Chancellor needs to come up with some extra money for social care now or be clear about the consequences for both the elderly and most vulnerable and the NHS.