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Care home capacity shortfall fears


The ability of the UK social care system to support older people will collapse by the end of the decade unless more resources are committed to the sector, a study has warned. Research by law firm Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) found care home capacity, state funding levels and pension wealth pointed to the UK reaching a shortage of supply in residential retirement homes by 2029 at the latest. The report said nursing and care home capacity was not enough due to an ageing population and growing levels of dementia.


The report, Elderly Care Crisis: A tipping point, also said people often pay for their old age care with their pensions, but that they were not saving enough. The document makes a series of recommendations, which include: reviewing and reforming care funding; raising the eligibility criteria for support in paying for care; enforcing councils to plan and allocate land for retirement, care and nursing homes; helping informal carers to look after older people; and raising awareness of the need for financial planning.


THE CARE HOME ENVIRONMENT


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The elderly care sector is already on its knees, and continuing to ignore the issue would be a disservice to the tens of millions of people that will be reaching old age in the next 20 years


Kelly Greig, head of later life planning at Irwin Mitchell, says: “For years now we have been raising awareness of the impending care crisis the UK is facing. The fact that we now know the elderly care system will collapse at the end of this decade is a stark warning of what is to come.


“The elderly care sector is already on its knees, and continuing to ignore the issue would be a disservice to the tens of millions of people that will be reaching old age in the next 20 years.”


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Josie Dent, Cebr senior economist, adds: “The elderly care sector is desperately in need of reform in order to avert the imminent crisis. Only around the top 10 per cent of retired households by income can afford to pay for nursing homes from their income, and with the cost of care set to rise, many more elderly people will find themselves using up their wealth or turning to local authorities for support to pay for care in the future. “With care providers being increasingly stretched, the Government needs to increase its efforts to prevent the crisis from reaching a tipping point.” The Government has pledged an extra £1.5 billion to child and adult social services this year and Prime Minster Boris Johnson has said plans for adult social care will be published this year.


Susannah Millen • Editor susannahmillen@stepcomms.com


March 2020 • www.thecarehomeenvironment.com


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