Britain ranks shamefully low when it comes to a European league table of how much each country spends on care for its elderly, coming 17th out of 20.
Our pensioners have been short-changed by both the previous and the current Government, spending much less on their care than other European countries. France and Italy both spend twice as much on their elderly.
Even countries that are considered to be much poorer than the UK spend more on their pensioners, such as Poland, Greece and the Czech Republic.
The research has been conducted by the over-50s group, Saga, who say that these figures make it clear that Britain does not care for its older generation as much as our neighbours on the continent.
The UK spends just 5.8% of its GDP on the elderly, compare to 11.7% in Italy and 11.1% in France.
Other countries in Europe use taxes or their equivalents of our national insurance system to fund care home fees. This ensures that money is there when the elderly need it, rather than them having to sell their own homes to pay for their long-term care.
The report has also stressed that the UK’s low rate of spending has put a huge financial burden on members of the families, who are taking on roles as unpaid carers because the state has failed to provide. It has also led to thousands of elderly people being left lonely and isolated in their homes, unable to get the help they need such as home help, meals on wheel or have nearby day centres they can attend.
Ros Altmann, the Director General of Saga, said that the UK’s low rate of spending on care could be one reason why women in Britain statistically die younger than women in the rest of Western Europe.
The countries at the top of the league table are France and Italy, where the average life expectancy for women is 84 years, compared to 81 in England.
Mrs Altmann said: “These figures show how generations of British politicians have betrayed our increasingly ageing population and have failed to fund properly the care so many of them will clearly need.” She continued: “It should shame us as a nation that other European countries seem to take the needs of their older population more seriously than we do.”
Worryingly, the figures for England and Wales alone would see us slide even further down the scale, as Scotland spends much more money on care for their elderly than the rest of the UK.
The UK currently spends £16 billion per year on elderly care. This is mainly divided between long-term residential care, home helps, day centres and the meals on wheel service.
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