Concern over soaring cost of care

The number of older people forced to meet all the costs of their care could jump from the present level of 490,000 to 530,000 by 2015, and then to 670,000 by 2025, Age UK has predicted.

Thanks to a 'stealth' cut to government funding for older people, the cost of care could more than double in the next 13 years. This means that the combined cost to families could rise from £8.4 billion to a staggering £17.5 billion during this timeframe.

The charity has called on the government to act swiftly, especially as it revealed that the wealth threshold for qualifying for government support has risen more slowly than inflation for several years - effectively resulting in a cut for in older people care funding, according to campaigners.

Michelle Mitchell, director general of Age UK said: 'Over the years support for care services has been eroded to the point where the system is in crisis.

'This means that more and more of the burden of paying for care has been pushed onto older people and their families without any wider discussion about the fairest way of funding these essential services.

'This is why we need leadership from the Government to frame an urgent debate on radical reform of the care system.'

Copyright Press Association 2012