The cost of the average length of stay in a residential care home has risen to nearly £82,000 - the equivalent of 26 annual family holidays - new research has revealed.

The analysis by Independent Age found that older people stay in a residential care home for an average of 30 months, at a cost of £32,000 per person for the first year alone.

The charity has compared this cost to typical expenditures over someone’s lifetime finding one year in care is the same cost as the average first-time buyer’s deposit.

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, said: ‘When you think about it in the context of a deposit, wedding, or family holiday, you start to realise how high and confusing care costs can be.

'We know that a lot of people don’t think about care in advance, but there are things you can do even if you haven’t planned ahead.’