Dementia care costs set to rise by 93 per cent in next 10 years in Northamptonshire

The cost of caring for loved ones living with dementia in Northamptonshire is set to soar by a frightening 93 per cent over the next decade.

Research by the Alzheimer’s Society shows that many families are being forced to sell their homes and empty their life savings to pay for care because they do not qualify for state support.

Latest figures show overall care costs across Northamptonshire will rise from £366million to £676m in 2030.

But estimates by the London School of Economics and Political Science, show around 60 per cent of social care costs fall to people living with dementia and their families with no state support.

Here, that means the current figure will jump from £162m to £313m in ten years' time.

The Alzheimer’s Society, the UK’s leading dementia charity, is calling for immediate social care investment to be a key pillar of the Government’s Budget on March 11 to protect individuals and their families from the devastating costs of specialist care.

Alzheimer’s Society area manager Nasim Minhas said: “The social care system is unfair and unfit for people living with dementia.

"Alzheimer’s Society is campaigning to end this injustice.

"We are calling on the Government to commit to £8billion in immediate funding to bring care to an acceptable level, as well as a clear timetable for long-term reform that provides a fairer system and ensures access to quality care.

“For far too long, families have been privately struggling to care for their loved ones with dementia, left to pick up the pieces of a social care system that's coming apart at the seams.

"This can't go on any longer. The Government must live up to its promise to fix dementia care.”

Last week, we reported on Nigel Ryalls running his first ever marathon to raise money to raise cash for the Alzheimer's Society.

The charity uses money to support, raise awareness and campaign for a better deal for people with dementia. It has also made a hard-hitting animated film for YouTube telling the story of one family’s financial plight to get the care their loved one needed.

Nationally, care costs are predicted to rise from their current £29.4bn to £50.4bn by 2030, an increase of more than 70 per cent. At the same time, the number of people living with dementia across the UK is expected to rise from around 850,000 to 1.2m.

And as the figures rise, the Alzheimer’s Society is calling for dementia care to be funded like other public services, such as the NHS and education.