Greater funding needed for dementia support

The Health and Social Care Committee is urging for clearer guidance on the care and support those living with dementia and their carers should expect to receive moving forward.

The committee’s report into dementia care criticises the government plans for the health and care levy which, it argues, provides insufficient funding for social care over the next three years and fails to spell out how the sector will benefit from the levy after that.

Currently 200,000 people with moderate and severe dementia in England do not get any kind of funded or professional support. The number of older people living with dementia in England is predicted to increase to around 1.35 million by 2040 and the total cost of dementia care is projected to reach £80.4 billion by 2040, up from £29.5 billion in 2019 when nearly half of this spending went on social care (45.8 per cent).

MPs are urging the Department of Health and Social Care to accept its recommendation from a previous report for a £7 annual billion increase in funding for social care by 2023-24 as a starting point, and for the department, alongside NHS England, to use the White Paper to develop clear guidance on the care and support those living with dementia and their carers should expect to receive, from diagnosis through to lifelong post-diagnostic support.  

Jeremy Hunt, chair of the committee, said: “People living with dementia face catastrophic costs for social care but even though the new levy is welcome, their families will continue to remain unprotected until 2023 at the earliest. The extra funding announced in the Budget for local authorities is welcome but it’s not clear how much will be set aside to support the growing costs of providing social care.

“Fundamental reform of the social care system must be tackled by the government in its promised White Paper and until we see warm words turned into action, families living with dementia will continue to face an unbearable situation.”