Country ‘Shamed’ By Age UK Figures

Campaigners call for action over 1.5m

Care campaigners say figures revealing how hard some older and vulnerable people are finding it to get the care they need shame the country.

And the Independent Care Group is calling on the Government to act quickly by investing in social care at next month’s budget to address the plight of 1.5m people going without care.

Age UK this week reported that 2,000 pleas for care are rejected every day because cash-strapped local authorities have no funding to offer care to many cases.

Mike Padgham, Chair of the Independent Care Group, said: “The Age UK statistics are alarming and shame us as a country. They should make the Government sit up, listen and act – beginning with ploughing more money into social care in next month’s Budget.

“Some £8bn has been cut from local authority social care budgets since 2010 so it should not come as a surprise that more and more older and vulnerable people – our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters – cannot get the care they need to enjoy a basic, decent quality of life.

“In 2020 it is a national disgrace, degrading and dehumanising and action to solve the crisis in social care is long overdue.

“We have total sympathy with local authorities who have had their budgets cut savagely in the past decade to the point where they can’t deliver care to those who need it most.

“Now that key milestones in Brexit are out of the way it is time for the Government to turn its attention to the number one domestic priority – social care.

“Boris Johnson promised to sort out social care ‘once and for all’ when he became Prime Minister and again at the General Election but all we have been promised is ‘cross-party talks’ and a solution within the five years of this parliament.

“Well, as these figures demonstrate, we cannot wait five years. There is no time for more talks and reports, we need to get social care done now and the Government must start by pumping funding into care at the budget. At least £8bn extra is needed just to reach the levels we had in 2010 and we need to go much further than that so that everyone who needs care can get it.”