YouGov polling on public priorities for Council spending

By Simon KitchenHead of Secretariat, Dementia Action Alliance

Context

Polling• Contribute to the debate and support members• Commissioned YouGov to look at public attitudes

to cuts to services for people with dementia• Questions drafted by Communication Steering

Group

Methodology• Online interview of members of the YouGov Plc

GB panel of 280,000+• 2003 responses• Representative sample broken down by age,

gender, employment status, socio-economic group, region and marital status

Questions asked1. People with dementia and carers of those with

dementia need more help and support

2. Funding for dementia services is likely to be threatened by the current financial climate

3. In which ONE of the following areas would you be LEAST willing to see local authorities make cuts?

1. People with dementia and carers of those with dementia need more help and support

14%

1%

2%

47%

35%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

Don't know

Strongly disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Op

tio

ns

of responses

2. Funding for dementia services is likely to be

threatened by the current financial climate

23%

1%

4%

53%

20%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Don't know

Stronglydisagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Op

tio

ns

of responses

3. In which ONE of the following areas would you be LEAST willing to see local authorities

make cuts?

5%

8%

5%

6%

8%

15%

18%

36%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Don't know

None of these

Libraries

Transport

Road improvements

Bin collections

Children’s services

Social care for older people

Co

un

cil

Se

rvic

es

of responses

Breakdown

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Total

Male

Femal

e

18 to

24

25 to

34

35 to

44

45 to

54

55+

Gender / Age Range

Per

cen

tag

e o

f re

spo

nse

s

Social care for olderpeople

Children’s services

Bin collections

Road improvements

Transport

Libraries

None of these

Don't know

Conclusions• The public overwhelmingly believe that dementia

and carers of those with dementia need more help and support and that the services they already receive are at risk of being cut

• High level of awareness of dementia within the public at large

• When faced with difficult choices, the public overall prioritise social care for older people

Next Steps• Communication Steering Group to use poll to

raise profile of DAA within national, local and trade press

• Full results, with breakdown, circulated to members to support local and national advocacy work