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| Bridging the generation gap? |
In terms of looking after our old people. Adult social care will become a hugely significant public policy issue in the coming years for the UK. In 1971, nearly 7.5m people were aged 65 and over with over 1.25m people being aged 80 or over. Our population in 1971 was 56m. In 2031 it is predicted that there will be 15.25m people over 65 and 5m people over 80. how will these people be looked after? With old age there is a more significant incidence of poor health and other conditions like dementia which become more prevalent. UK Directors of social services have estimated that care for those living at home with critical needs would cost around £1.4bn annually. In the past decade spending on care services for those over 65 has risen to £9.1bn per year. People will need to fund more of their own social care as they age; will they need to sell their homes? or will they need to pay a tax on the final value of their estates? All these issues are up for consideration. Adult social care finance professionals seem to recognise these financial challenges whilst corporate finance professionals in local government much less so. It probably is not such a sexy topic as other local services.
CIPFA is organising a conference in Leeds on the 20th and 21st of July examining the perspectives on social care both for adults and children. It will cover both costing and funding approaches to what can be achieved.
As a motivational speaker, Simon Weston OBE, the Falklands veteran will be speaking on how to overcome adversity.
Please visit http://www.simonweston.com/
We do hope that you can make this conference as it will give you a real insight into the soical care agenda.
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