One in eight care homes closed during past 10 years

ONE in eight care homes has been forced to close in the past decade, while rising numbers of families are being forced to pay for care, a report warns.

The study shows the number of local authority beds has halved over the same period, from 34,700 to 17,100.

The report by analysts Laingbuisson also shows that 45 per cent of care home places are now funded by families, not the state, up from 40 per cent in a decade. It also reveals that the number of care homes in the UK has fallen by 1,612 in 10 years, despite a rapidly ageing population. In total, the number of care homes has dropped from 12,592 to 10,980 over the decade.

Boris Johnson has promised to “fix” the problem of social care, with a “castiron guarantee” he will have a longterm plan for social care in place within five years.

It follows warnings that families are spending twice as much on fees for relatives in care homes than they were a decade ago, research reveals.

In 1999, a Royal Commission on long-term care of the elderly, said that personal care should be free for all those in need, leaving pensioners to only pay “hotel” costs of their accommodation.

Since then, more than 350,000 pensioners have been forced to sell their homes to fund their care, research suggests.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: “It’s high time the Government got a grip on the situation. Whoever our next prime minister is must make this a day-one priority, or else hundreds of thousands of older people and their families are going to be very badly let down.”