A new ‘explainer’ from Understanding Society shows how the Joseph Rowntree Foundation used our data in research which says that, as we live longer, more people will need care in the future. The report, The future of care needs: a whole systems approach, forecasts a greater need for both paid care services and informal care, and calls for government action.
Based on Understanding Society data and demographic growth estimates, JRF says
- the number of people needing publicly funded home care could increase by 87% compared to 2015
- the adult social care system in England will need 440,000 more paid care workers by 2035, 25% more than today
- there will be another 400,000 unpaid carers in the UK looking after elderly, sick or disabled people for 10 hours or more by 2035
The research also calls for “much-needed” reform. The government, JRF says, should try “to reduce the demand itself by helping people live healthier lives for longer”, through policies which reduce preventable disease. But there will also be a significant need for more paid and unpaid care.
The charity has therefore called for a Future Care Needs Taskforce which brings people from the Department for Health and Social Care to work together on policy with others from the Departments for Work and Pensions, Business and Trade, Housing, Local Government and Communities, and Education.
Read the ‘explainer’, How can we meet the care needs of an ageing population?
Read the JRF report
This research used Understanding Society Waves 1-13, harmonised British Household Panel Survey data Waves 1-18, the Department for Education’s Parents Survey, ONS Time Use Survey, and the NHS Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England 2023-4
