A new study commissioned by Senedd Cymru, the Welsh Parliament, has found that 40% of people in Wales who needed social care during the pandemic didn’t get it either because it wasn’t available, they were worried about catching Covid-19, or they didn’t want to impose on an already overstretched health system.

Despite the report’s concentration on Wales, its author Simon Williams, from Swansea University, said that the same kinds of problems are found across the UK.

The report by PsyArXiv, which surveyed 2,569 respondents in Wales in February and March 2022, as well as online focus groups, found that 40% of people who felt that they, or someone in their household or close family, needed social care during the past two years did not receive or make use of it.

A major reason why many of those who may have needed social care didn’t access it was the pandemic– either because they were “afraid of catching Covid-19” or because they didn’t want to add an extra burden on stretched social care services.

People also didn’t seek or receive social care due to a lack of availability or staff shortages, being deemed ineligible or otherwise not being offered care, not wanting to ask for help or the application or access processes being too complex.

“It is concerning that approximately four in ten of those feeling in need of social care did not receive or make use of social care services,” Williams said, in an interview with i magazine. 

“Social care policymakers and providers should look at increasing provision for those who need it, encouraging and enabling those who feel they need social care to apply and working to de-stigmatise social care.” He said they should consider broadening the eligibility criteria where appropriate while simplifying and providing more support for applying to or accessing social care.

“Another challenge for social care services may be the need to address a potential backlog in those needing care, who were either unable to access services due to restrictions or staff shortages or did not want to apply because they were concerned about infection risk or did not want to ‘bother’ services.” 

The paper is published on the PsyRxiv preprint server and the Senedd Research website.