The Lib Dems have repeated their call for cross-party talks on social care after revealing a steep rise in the number of pensioners per care home.

There was a 14% rise in the number of people aged 65 and over per care home from 761 in 2018 to 867 in 2024, House of Commons Library data, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats revealed.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: ‘These figures lay bare a stark postcode lottery that is leaving pensioners and their loved ones deeply worried about the quality of care they will be able to receive, if they can find any at all.’

The Lib Dems said some areas had seen the number of pensioners per care home and per bed more than double in a ‘stark postcode lottery’.

Hornsey and Wood Green saw a 130% increase in the number of over 65s per bed, from 45 to 103, while in Wythenshawe and Sale East the figure rose by nearly 70% and in Leeds North East by 62%.

The Lib Dems said the number of pensioners per bed had now reached over 150 in some areas with the City of London and City of Westminster standing at 170, Orpington 167, and in Hackney South and Shoreditch 147. In total, 394 of the 536 constituencies in England and Wales have seen a rise in the number of pensioners per care home bed.

Pensioners per care home has seen an even greater rise with 106 more pensioners per care home than in 2018.

In Hornsey and Wood Green there has been a 121% rise in the number of pensioners per care home, in Portsmouth North 87%, and in Camberwell and Peckham 87%.

In the City of London and City of Westminster there are now 6,789 pensioners per care home, Poplar and Limehouse 4,480, and in Hackney South and Shoreditch 3,489. Across England and Wales, 88% of all constituencies saw a rise in the number of over 65s per care home.

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