A surge in working age adults needing care has pushed Britain’s social care system to ‘breaking point’, a report warns.
The study found the number of unpaid carers helping to prop-up the embattled system has soared by 70 per cent over the last two decades, from 1.1million to 1.9million.
Meanwhile, requests for support have surged from 1.8 million in 2015/16 to 2.1 million in 2023/24.
This was driven largely by a 31.5 per cent jump in the number of 16 to 64-year-olds requesting care. By comparison, requests for care among people aged 65 and over increased by 9 per cent.
Overall, there has been a 15 per cent surge in the number of people requesting some form of adult social care. But only 2.5 per cent more people have received it.
