Lack of extra money for social care is a disaster for older people

On Wednesday 23 November, the government delivered its latest Autumn Statement, including wide-ranging proposals which will affect areas like housing, welfare and pensions. However, social care continued to be overlooked despite the growing number of voices that have highlighted the sector's troubling decline.

Whilst welcoming signs that the ‘triple lock' on the state pension will stay in place until 2020, Age UK's charity Driector, Caroline Abrahams comments on the state of social care and the consequences for older people.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

'The Government's failure to provide any respite for our beleaguered social care system in the Autumn Statement spells deepening misery for many older people.'

‎'It means current trends are certain to continue: more older people will get no help or not enough help; more care companies will exit the market or fold; more people will have to fund their own care and face big, rising bills; more family members - including many in their 80s and 90s - will have to shoulder the care of a loved one alone; more care staff will quit for less stressful jobs elsewhere; and all the good people working in social care battling to sustain good standards of care will face an even tougher job than they do today.'

'The debate about the future of social care has gone beyond whether there is a crisis to how to mitigate its impact, including on the NHS, and more recently to how to prevent its total collapse - yet still the Government does not act. Older people are bound to wonder why not and we wouldn't blame them for concluding that the failure to value social care in this country is also a commentary on the value our society places on them and their yearning for a decent and dignified later life.'

'The Chancellor's confirmation that the ‘triple lock' will stay in place until 2020 was welcome, though not new and a manifesto commitment, as was his announcement that the next Spending Review will consider the support our society provides for older people in the round. We cannot go on as we are and it is high time we had a proper national conversation about what our growing older population needs and deserves to live well and how we pay for it.'