More than 30,000 people died while waiting for council-arranged social care last year, analysis suggests

More than 30,000 people in England died during 2024/25 while waiting for a council-arranged adult social care package, according to an analysis of NHS data reported this week.

The analysis, published by the Liberal Democrats and reported by multiple national media outlets, found that 30,845 people died before receiving a care package from their local authority. This included around 9,000 people who had been discharged from hospital and were awaiting ongoing care, as well as 3,080 working-age disabled adults.

The figures relate to people who died while waiting for care, rather than establishing that the delay itself caused their deaths. They highlight the continuing pressures facing England’s adult social care system, where growing demand, workforce shortages and financial pressures have contributed to longer waiting times for assessments and care packages.

The analysis also estimates that 167,900 people have died while waiting for council-arranged social care since 2020. During the same period, more than half of requests for support were reportedly not approved, reflecting the increasingly strict eligibility criteria used by many local authorities to manage demand.

Under the current means-tested system in England, people with assets above the financial threshold are generally expected to contribute towards the cost of their care, while local authorities assess both eligibility and the level of support required. Councils have repeatedly warned that rising demand and constrained budgets are placing increasing pressure on adult social care services.

The publication of the figures comes as social care reform has returned to the political agenda, with the government committing to wider reform of adult social care and bringing forward work on the independent review being led by Baroness Casey.

Editor’s note: The figures are based on an analysis of NHS data and refer to people who died while awaiting a council-arranged care package. They do not demonstrate that waiting for care was the cause of death.

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