UK faces care timebomb as over-85s are set to double

The government is being urged to pour more funding into the care system after new projections showed the country is facing a social care timebomb as the number of over-85s is set to double over the next two decades.

- MILLIE COOKE

Ramzi Suleiman, policy and public affairs manager at the Carers Trust, issued a stark warning to the government, arguing that the sector is “nowhere near ready for this rise in older people” as it is “already creaking at the seams”.

Projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that, by mid-2047, the number of over-85 will have nearly doubled to 3.3 million, representing 4.3 per cent of the total UK population. This is an increase from 1.7 million in mid-2022, when they made up 2.5 per cent of the population.

The rise comes partly because of the larger numbers of people born in the 1960s, who would be aged over-80 in 2047, as well as general increases in life expectancy, the ONS said.

The warnings came after the government confirmed earlier this month that major social care reforms would not be delivered until 2028, with an independent commission chaired by Baroness Casey launching in spring.

The government has pledged to introduce a National Care Service – but it is unclear what this would look like in practice.

Responding to the figures, Green Party MP Ellie Chowns warned that older populations have been “left out in the cold by successive governments who have refused to get to grips with the social care crisis we face”.