The adult social care system is "fundamentally broken" and "unfit for purpose" Birmingham City Council and the University of Birmingham have warned.
A policy paper, ‘Turning the welfare state upside down? Developing a new adult social care offer' calls for a new approach to adult social care.
The report states: "For many commentators, the adult social care system is fundamentally broken.
"This is not the fault of current workers, managers or policy makers - but there is strong consensus that we still have a 1940's system which is increasingly unfit for purpose in the early twenty-first century."
Professor Jon Glasby, director of the Health Services Management Centre, and lead author of the report, said: "Local authorities across the country are struggling to meet their responsibilities.
"With higher levels of need, higher public expectations and widespread cuts, the previous approach to adult social care feels fundamentally unfit for purpose."
The report calls for recognition that adult social care spending is a form of social and economic investment that supports people to return to employment and can generate new businesses opportunities.
It asks for a closer relationship with the NHS so that scarce public resources are used as effectively as possible and a closer relationship between local and national government when trying to develop new approaches.
Prof Glasby added: "In future, adult social care needs to adopt more of a community development approach."
