More than one in four (28%) people aged over 80 are living with some unmet need for social care, a new report by Age UK has found.
The number of people over 75 has grown by 18% since 2017, yet fewer older people are receiving local authority long term care, according to the charity's research.
In 2022/23, over 540,000 people were receiving long term care from their council compared to more than 565,000 in 2017/18.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘It’s deeply worrying that the numbers of older people living with some unmet need for social care have now reached two million, out of a total older population in England of about 11 million.’
She added: ‘Our fear is that unless this Government grasps the nettle of social care reform firmly and quickly, they will find it impossible to stabilise and strengthen the NHS either, to the enormous detriment of all of us but of older people, its principal client group, most of all.’
Age UK said it ‘strongly supports’ Lord Darzi’s conclusion that the answer to the ongoing social care crisis lies in focusing more on prevention and early intervention, supporting older people at home or in a care home to stay fit and well.
