2.6m people aged 50+ are living with some form of unmet social care needs

With years of "lack of investment" from the government and vacancies in the workforce rising, a new study shows over one and a half million people in England aged fifty and above are living with some form of unmet need for care.

The new analysis by Age UK for the Care and Support Alliance (CSA) shows one in eight people (12 per cent) aged fifty and above are struggling to have assistance with one or more activities of daily living, such as washing, eating, getting out of bed and using the toilet.

The CSA is calling for an urgent cash injection to address the increasing pressures on the care system. Social care is chronically underfunded and many local councils struggle to meet the care needs of their communities. An ageing population, as well as a growing number of disabled people of working age, means problems are escalating with central government funding not keeping pace with the consequent increasing demand for care.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK and co-chair of the Care and Support Alliance says all the data points to social care becoming "weaker as time goes on" and is concerned the vacancies in the workforce continued to rise "month by month".

She says: “To have as many as two and half million over-50s now living with some unmet need for care is truly astonishing, and it shows how far below an acceptable level of operation our social care services have been allowed to fall.

"This number is equivalent to one in eight of the entire same age population, and the lack of support must be having a huge impact on all these people’s ability to live a normal life and participate in and contribute to our society.

“There’s no doubt that the long term neglect of social care services by central government is having very real consequences, not only for the individuals whose lives are at best diminished, and their families who often have to pick up the pieces but for other public services too, especially the NHS."

Latest data by Age UK and the Care and Support Alliance shows

• 70 per cent (1.8 million) of those with an unmet need for care have difficulty dressing

• 18 per cent (450,000) have difficulty walking across a room

• 47 per cent (1.2 million) have difficulty bathing or showering

• 12 per cent (320,000) have difficulty eating • 36 per cent (930,000) have difficulty getting in and out of bed

• 23 per cent (600,000) have difficulty using the toilet

The data also shows seven per cent of people in their 50s have an unmet need for care, 12 per cent in their 60s, 15 per cent in their 70s and 21 per cent are in their 80s and older.

'The scale of the challenge is huge and demands urgent action'

The CSA believe the reforms Boris Johnson announced as Prime Minister in September 2020 will not and cannot fulfil the promise he made to ‘fix social care’ because they do not improve the quality and availability of care.

Instead, his reforms focus on subsidising the cost of care for some people who pay for their own services, especially if they need them for a long time.

The 2019 Conservative Manifesto said older and disabled people, and their unpaid carers, deserve the support they require to live decently. The CSA disagree and states that at the moment 'we seem further away' than ever from that aspiration being met.

Jackie O’Sullivan, communication director of Mencap and co-chair of the CSA warns these "shocking" figures will increase and "many younger disabled adults" will be "condemned to living lives" stuck inside their houses unable to "work, volunteer or meet people".

Ms O'Sullivan said: “We need an urgent cash injection from the government to address all these ongoing pressures on the system caused by the pandemic and in the longer-term need funding targeted at supporting decent pay rises for our hard-working care workforce. This is the only way the sector can get back on an even keel.

“The years of lack of investment means the scale of the challenge is huge and demands urgent action now.

"The millions of older and disabled people putting up with inadequate services, if they get any service at all, need the incoming PM to get a grip of the problem and aim for transformation through proper reform, but as it stands it is never going to be possible with the meagre funding allocated by the government up to now.”

Ms Abrahams added: "The incoming administration must understand that they will not begin to turn the curve on quality and access in social care until they ensure care staff are properly recompensed for the incredible work they do.”