Free advice: twice a week through June, Martin Searle Solicitors’ team is offering free half-hour advice sessions about social care
‘We urgently need a significant investment in social care staff, services and support for unpaid carers to ensure that the current social care system does not collapse’
Martin Searle Solicitors, with offices in central Croydon, is running its Social Care Funding Matters campaign through June, including offering free advice sessions.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons throughout June, the Court of Protection and Community Care law team at Martin Searle Solicitors will provide free 30-minute telephone advice appointments to individuals about how to access social care funding and the services they are entitled to under the Care Act.
This advice is also relevant to professionals such as accountants, financial advisors, private client lawyers and professional deputies who assist their clients with social care funding disputes.
Earlier this year, Baroness Casey, working on a government-commissioned model for a National Care Service, described the situation with social care as being “held together with add-ons and work-arounds, sticking plasters and glue”.
The Nuffield Trust reported last September that fewer than half of older adults with care needs in England are receiving support, including support from unpaid carers, and that 259,000 adults are waiting for their care package to start. As of June 2025, the Kings Fund reported that local authorities, including councils such as Croydon, spent £32billion per year on social care for the 859,000 adults with long-term care needs in England.
However, this does not include the number of self-funders which, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, is in the “hundreds of thousands”.
If you or members of your family have social care needs you can book a 30-minute phone appointment with Martin Searle Solicitors this month by clicking here.
In addition, on Thursday June 25, from noon to 1pm, Martin Searle Solicitors will also run a free virtual seminar on “Double Recovery: PI Awards and Periodical Payments”. The webinar is aimed at Professional Deputies, private client lawyers and other advisers who work in the social care legal sector.
Please reserve your place here.
Their website also provides a series of free factsheets, case studies, and FAQs covering the law around paying for care home fees and paying for care at home. These include whether the person can legitimately avoid selling their home to pay for care and the rules that affect what care funding you receive.
Cate Searle, the head of community care at Martin Searle Solicitors, said: “We provide free support and resources to advise people about their rights to social care provision.
“Unfortunately, more than 10 years on from the Care Act imposed clear legal duties upon social services, accessing adequate social care provision remains very challenging for many people.
“The social care system remains hugely under-resourced after 16 years of austerity measures and Baroness Casey is right to call for fundamental reform. We urgently need a significant investment in social care staff, services and support for unpaid carers to ensure that the current social care system does not collapse.
“This should be as much a priority as saving the NHS, as social care provision and funding affects all of us.”
- For more information about the solicitors’ campaign, please visit https://www.ms-solicitors.co.uk/social-care-funding-matters/
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