UK Ranked Among Lowest Social Care Spenders In Western Europe
The UK is ranked one of the spenders on social care in Western Europe according to new data analysis based on figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and released this week in the Daily Mail.
The UK is ranked 10th out of 12 comparable nations, with our level of state social care spending approximately half that of Norway and the Netherlands.
Only Portugal and Spain are ranked below the United Kingdom.
Caroline Abrahams, of Age UK, said: “It’s depressing to see the UK so close to the bottom of the league.
“To some extent at least, you get what you pay for and the fact that we spend less helps explain why the service here is so restricted and also patchy in terms of its quality.”
State spending on social care in the UK is currently £695 per head of the population compared with £1,530 in Norway, £1,451 in the Netherlands, £1,222 in Sweden and £1,033 in Switzerland.
Germany spent £777 per head and France £722. Spain and Portugal were the lowest ranking with £218 and £208 per head, respectively.
Boris Johnson has promised to tackle inequalities in the social care funding system. In a speech when he became Prime Minster he said: “My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care,” he said.
“And so I am announcing now – on the steps of Downing Street – that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all, and with a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.”
He also announced a £1.8bn boost for the NHS, visiting a Lincolnshire hospital earlier this week, said 20 hospitals are set to share £850 million of new funding to upgrade outdated facilities and equipment – helping improve patient care and ultimately save more lives, and also confirmed a £1 billion boost to NHS capital spending, allowing existing upgrade programmes to proceed and tackling the most urgent infrastructure projects.
