The future of informal care and its potential implications for social care policy

The aim of this submission is to draw the attention of the Health Committee to new information relating to the future of family care in England. The submission draws on a report carried out for the Strategy Unit(Cabinet OYce) and Department of Health (Pickard 2008). The evidence suggests that around 250,000 disabled older people could be left without family care by 2041, opening up an unpaid “care gap” and potentially increasing demand for social care services. The submission discusses the implications of this evidence for social care policy in the context of the Government’s Green Paper on social care (HMG 2009)and latest announcement on free personal care (Community Care 2009).