Britain is facing a loneliness epidemic

3.6m elderly trapped caring for partners... with zero help

BRITAIN faces an epidemic of loneliness among the elderly due to a huge rise in those caring for partners with no help from the state.

Around 3.6 million pensioners are also unpaid carers – a number which has soared by nearly 1.5 million since the start of the pandemic.

Now a survey by Age UK has found that a third of older unpaid carers feel lonely.

The charity is calling on the Government to do more to support pensioners struggling alone.

Many are having to care for their spouse without any help as a result of the broken care system.

‘Support has all but disappeared’

They would benefit from home helps to share the burden, but councils are restricting these visits to those deemed most in need.

The situation has been made worse by Covid restrictions, which have made it harder for care workers to carry out visits.

Age UK’s survey found that the majority of older carers are receiving no support at all, finding support too difficult to access and services unavailable.

With services stopped without explanation or alternatives, they found under one per cent are accessing day services, with a similarly tiny number accessing respite care. One unpaid carer told Age UK: ‘It is an intolerable burden. Most days I just want to die.’

Another said: ‘It is draining, isolating and affects my relationship with my spouse. It has been much worse during the pandemic because I haven’t had any social contact with my friends.’

And another said: ‘It is a 24/7 job providing care. He is totally dependent on me doing everything for him, so I get very tired and have very little time for myself.’

The charity found that during September, of the over-65s living with someone who they were caring for, four per cent were often lonely and 28 per cent lonely some of the time.

It also found that 84 per cent were giving care with no respite or support, while 780,000 were in their 80s or older, meaning 23 per cent of all over-80s were providing care themselves. Among all over65s, one in three was providing at least some unpaid care.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: ‘These deeply worrying new figures show that in many places support for carers has all but disappeared, due to a combination of the pandemic plus the acute funding pressures in social care.

‘The 3.6 million older people who care for a loved one are being left to shoulder an enormous amount of responsibility and hard work without any prospect of an organised break, or often even any chance to socialise with others.

‘It’s awful to think of how lonely and exhausted many of them must be feeling. We must do more to support older carers and that requires central government to give local authorities enough new money to get respite care, daycare facilities and short breaks going again.’

A Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to supporting our dedicated unpaid carers, and tackling loneliness.

‘We are investing up to £25million to kick-start a change in services to support unpaid carers. Since the beginning of the pandemic we have also invested £34million in charities specifically focused on reducing social isolation.’

THE UK Health Security Agency refuses to recommend cutting the Covid isolation period from seven days to five, on the grounds that ‘between 10 and 30 per cent of people would still be infectious’.

So that leaves at least 70 per cent who could be back at work, keeping the wheels of industry turning and ensuring hospitals aren’t overwhelmed by staff absences.

Surely regular testing will identify those who still carry the virus after five days, allowing them to stay at home while those testing negative can resume their duties.

France yesterday joined America and Greece in reducing quarantine to five days. If their health advisers say that it’s safe, why don’t ours?