Free social care must be a key priority for ALL political parties in the General Election to avoid the looming crisis for the 1 in 4 of the population that will be over 65.
The National Pensioners’ Convention’s 2024 Manifesto calls for our long running campaign for a National Care Service, free at the point of need and funded by taxation, to be embraced by all parties.
While it is encouraging that the main parties seem set to keep the ‘triple lock’ protecting annual state pension rises, so far only one of them has pledged major health and care sector reform (for England*) in their Manifesto.
The NPC says all politicians need to understand that the UK urgently needs an holistic, 360 degree strategy for our rapidly ageing population, that includes a National Care Service running alongside the NHS.
Today 1 in 5 of us, almost 13 million, is over 65 - within two decades, 1 in 4 will be over 65. But while we are living longer, we are not living healthier, and millions of us now need more help from our struggling care sector.
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary said: “A fully funded and free at the point of delivery National Care Service, alongside a properly funded and fully public NHS, is absolutely key to enabling older people to live well for longer.
“Even maintaining the triple lock – or even a triple lock plus – while welcome, is not going to be enough to help the millions of older people who are going to increasingly require complex health and social care provision in future.
“I hope the next government bears this is mind when they consider how they will cope with the care needs of the 1 in 4 of us – a quarter of the population – who will be over 65 within two decades.”
The NPC, the UK’s largest campaign group run for and by older people, is not aligned to any political party. Instead, we want all parties to realise that everyone gets older, and that the UK needs a 360 degree strategy for our rapidly ageing population.
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary added that the NPC knows very well we cannot fix the crisis facing the NHS without fixing the crisis facing social care.
Download the NPC 2024 Election Manifesto
Download ‘Goodbye Cinderella: A New Settlement for Care Services’.
*Social care is devolved so these policies would apply to England only.
BBC News: ‘Currently only those with an income and assets under £23,250 get help with the costs of care at home or in residential and nursing homes in England – the least generous system in the UK. Adult social care charging reforms - including an £86,000 cap on the amount anyone in England has to spend on their personal care over their lifetime - was due to be implemented in October 2023 but has been delayed two years.’
ENDS
Download the press release