Dear Editor,

For too long our country’s older people have been let down by successive governments’ failures to prioritise social care.

The Lords Economic Affairs Committee’s call for the next prime minister to secure funding solutions must not fall on deaf ears.

Social care and the NHS are inextricably linked, and with the bill for care set to rise by 159% by 2040, we welcome the call to investigate how social care can also be free at the point of delivery.

The sector urgently needs sustainable funding, rather than a string of emergency cash injections that fail to cement a secure future for social care, and those it’s designed to support.

Anchor Hanover’s research shows the number of people ill-prepared for later life is alarmingly high. With just 14% currently saving for care needs, state funding is necessary if people are to be adequately safeguarded.

As well as a state-funded safety net, people must be encouraged and educated to plan ahead.

We desperately need solutions now, so the system doesn’t continue to fail today’s and tomorrow’s older generations.

Jane Ashcroft CBE,

Chief Executive of Anchor Hanover

England’s largest provider of care and housing for older people

Torrington Place,

London

WC1E 7HJ