CSPA Campaigning
Social Care
Many of us will require some level of care when we get older.
As part of Later Life Ambitions we are calling for:
A National Social Care Service integrated with a National Health Servicethat remains
free at the point of delivery.
Social care - the facts and figures
Many of us will require some level of
care when we get older. Life expectancy
has plateaued, and there are a growing
number of people spending their later
lives in poor or failing health.
Within the next decade, the number of older people will have increased to 13 million, nearly a quarter of the population.
Meanwhile, the number of years we can expect to spend in good health, without a disabling illness, continues to decline; this is now 62.4 years for men and 60.9 years for women.
The need for better, more comprehensive
care in later life continues to deepen.
The manifesto: What we're campaigning for
As part of Later Life Ambitions we are calling for: A National Social Care Service integrated with a National Health Service that remains free at the point of delivery.
Our three main areas of focus are:
- Funding: People who do not qualify for publicly funded social care must pay all of their care costs themselves. This has led to 143,000 older people facing ‘catastrophic lifetime costs’ of £100,000 or more. This is not sustainable or fair, so we are calling for the UK Government to increase spending on adult social care in proportion to total public expenditure
- Staffing: Even if you have the money to pay for care, there is no guarantee that anyone will be there to provide it. There are currently an estimated 165,000 staff vacancies across the adult social care sector
- Integration: There needs to be closer working between health and social care services to relieve the financial burden on the NHS and ensure that patients receive the most appropriate care. This must be in conjunction with an increase in social care funding to increase places for older people outside of hospital.
Later Life Ambitions
Later Life Ambitions brings together the collective voices of over a quarter of a million pensioners through the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, the Civil Service Pensioners’ Alliance, and the National Association of Retired Police Officers Association.
We aim to encourage today’s decision makers to confront the challenges of tomorrow.
