Debates over social care played a major role in the recent UK general election. You will not be thinking too much about it now, but when you reach retirement age and beyond you are likely to be living in a very different kind of society from the one you do now. Many more people will be living longer — and they may need looking after. Who is to pay and how should we organise it? A recent briefing paper from Age UK (Health and Care of Older People in England, 2017) laid out some of the key issues. It points out that the number of people aged 85+ in England increased by almost one third over the last decade and will more than double over the next two decades. See Figure 1.
By their late eighties, more than one in three people in England have difficulties undertaking the tasks of daily living unaided. Between one quarter and a half of the 85+ age group are frail. There are also huge socioeconomic differences in disability-free life expectancy at age 65: a fivefold difference between people living in the poorest and in the most affluent areas of the UK. For example, a woman aged 65 has an expected 3.3 years of healthy living in the worst area compared to 16.7 years in the best. Is this a postcode lottery or signs of deep-seated social inequality? An ageing population also means people living longer — but more of them from poorer areas will have diagnosed long-term health conditions. See Figure 2.
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