Treasury Is Budgeting for Social Care Without Knowing What the Law Requires
Kari Gerstheimer, CEO and founder of Access Social Care, writing in PoliticsHome, 26 October 2026.
Writing in PoliticsHome, Kari Gerstheimer argues that the government cannot accurately calculate how much social care needs without first understanding what councils are legally required to provide. Despite years of acknowledged underfunding, the Treasury’s approach continues to use previous spending as the starting point, risking the continuation of existing shortfalls.
Kari explains that when funding is based on what councils spent last year, rather than what people are legally entitled to receive, unmet needs risk being carried forward year after year. Under the Care Act 2014, councils have legal duties to meet eligible care and support needs. Financial pressures do not remove those obligations.
The article highlights the gap between legal rights on paper and people’s experiences in practice. Older and disabled people can struggle to access the care they are entitled to, while families and unpaid carers are left fighting for the support their loved ones need.
Cutting of Kari’s article in PoliticsHome
Kari shares the experience of a family who approached Access Social Care after their request for a safe residential care placement for their daughter was met with a proposal offering significantly less support than she needed. With help from an ASC caseworker, the family challenged the local authority’s position through a legally grounded letter, resulting in a revised approach and a safer care package.
Kari also highlights Access Social Care’s longstanding work to secure transparency around social care funding. The charity has asked the Treasury to calculate funding based on the cost of meeting people’s legal entitlements, including needs that currently go unmet, rather than simply maintaining existing services.
The article reinforces ASC’s central message: social care funding and legal rights cannot be considered separately. If the government is serious about reforming social care and building a sustainable system for the future, it must understand what the law requires, make funding calculations transparent and ensure that people’s rights can be realised in practice.
Read Kari’s full article in PoliticsHome. Kari Gerstheimer is CEO and founder of Access Social Care