Age UK comment in response to new analysis by the Nuffield Trust – “Social care providers at risk of collapse'

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

"This analysis is catastrophic for the millions of older people with care needs and their families. It's hard enough already to source good, local, affordable care but if more providers go out of business it will get even more difficult. What's more, it's the smaller providers, charities and SMEs, where the best care is often to be found, who are at greatest risk of retrenchment and closure.

"It's imperative the Govt compensates social care providers for these big cost hikes in the Budget, because otherwise for some they will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. This is not shroud-waving, it's a fact, as the impeccably independent Nuffield Trust has found. Action must be taken through the Local Government Settlement and the Spending Review to this end.

"The Government has justified the changes to employers NICs on the basis that it has to raise more money to 'fix the foundations', but if more social care goes under it is essentially ripping them up - just ask the NHS. As it is there are 2 million older people with some unmet need for care & that appalling figure will only go on rising if the Government fails to act to protect social care providers and all those they serve."