Spending on adult social care has fallen by £1.1bn since 2010, leaving hundreds of thousands of older people without support - a charity has said.
Age UK has found the proportion of people aged 65 and over receiving social care has fallen from 15.3% in 2005/6 to just 9.1% this year, with the number of elderly people simultaneously rising by 15.6%.
The charity said the 'marked decline' in central Government funding to help older people live independently was raising pressure on hospitals.
The Department of Health said that while it had given an extra £1.1bn to councils to protect social care services, local authorities were responsible for how they spent budgets. The Government also anticipates its £5.3bn Better Care Fund will help the elderly remain at home.
Yet publishing its social care 'score card', Age UK warned the number of older people receiving home care has fallen by 31.7% over the past four years. Day care places have 'plummeted' by 66.9% while numbers receiving meals on wheels has dropped by 63.7%.
Charity director, Caroline Abrahams, warned the state funded social care system was in a 'calamitous, quite rapid decline' leaving huge numbers of older people to 'battle on alone'.
'Hundreds of thousands of older people who need social care are being left high and dry. The lucky ones have sufficient funds to buy in some support, or can rely on the goodwill of family, neighbours and friends. But there are many who are being left to struggle on entirely alone,' Abrahams said.
'The Better Care Fund is very welcome, in so far as it is encouraging local health and care services to work together with other community services to improve their support to older people living with frailty. However the £3.8bn is not new money and the projected savings from reductions in emergency admissions are very optimistic.
'Policymakers owe it to the public, older people especially, to confront the crisis in social care and its consequences. Above all, this scorecard makes clear that for any policymaker to acknowledge the need for investment in the NHS while omitting to mention social care is not good enough and will ultimately not solve the problems facing the NHS either.'
A Department of Health spokesperson said: 'We know we need to work differently to respond to our growing ageing population - our Care Act and £5.3 billion Better Care Fund, the biggest ever national programme to join up health and social care, will focus resources on helping people to live independently, which will save money and reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.'
