By Eric king
Nearly 1,000 elderly people in Kingston are providing over 50 hours of unpaid care after funding in the borough for people over 65 was cut by more than half.
Age UK statistics show that 4% of elderly Kingston residents are providing more than a working week’s equivalent of care for free. This state of affairs is unjust and calls for an urgent remedy.
The statistics show social care spending for the over- 65’s went down from £24.5 m in 2010-11 to just £10.3 m in 2013-14.Clearly, the drop has had a huge impact on the quality of care for the elderly.
Ruth Hannan, policy and development manager for the Carers Trust, said: “Older carers have been significantly impacted by the cuts to social care funding, meaning they are having to undertake more and more caring responsibility“As the Age UK report on older carers identified recently, more and more people are acting as unpaid carers to family and friends in later life.
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“It is estimated that three-in-five of us are likely to be a carer at some point in our life;, this is likely to be when we are older ourselves, with our own health needs.”
The data was released to coincide with Carers Week, an annual awareness campaign running from June 6 to 12, which focuses on supporting cares.
Run by Carers UK, a nationwide movement of carers supporting each other and pushing for government policy changes, is determined to highlight people who give up their time to look after others without remuneration. Something urgent needs to be done, as the elderly must not be taken for granted.
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Kingston Carers UK ambassador Anne Blanche said the amount of people actually providing unpaid care could be much higher.
She said: “I would like to say to everyone in this borough who has caring responsibilities:, There is help out there and there are people who care.
“Many people do not wish to be identified as carers or simply do not realize that they are.
“I cannot deal with every request personally but I have a very large national organisation behind me which can and will help.
“I am here to ensure that carers here have access to information and services.”
Last year the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) warned additional funds were urgently needed to protect older and vulnerable people in the face of £1.1 billion budget cuts to adult social services.
ADASS president Ray James said: “What is at stake is the continuing capacity of adult social care to sustain services to those in greatest need.