Last Updated on July 15, 2022
The elderly population of England’s county and rural areas has swelled by over a million people during the past decade, a new report has revealed.
The analysis, carried out by the County Councils Network (CCN), shows for the first time in history, county and rural areas now have as many people aged over 65 as children and young people.
The CCN warns that this demographic shift is adding significant pressure to adult social care services. But funding from Government has failed to keep up with these changes, with county authorities receiving money based on an ‘outdated’ funding formula.
Because of this, social care services in county and rural areas are hundreds of millions of pounds worse off compared to cities and large towns in England – with these councils facing a further multi-billion-pound shortfall from next year’s planned care reforms.
The analysis of Census data shows that between 2011 and 2021, those aged 65 and over grew by 1.1m (23.3%) in county areas, while the number of those aged 0-19 rose by just 72,000 (1.3%), meaning the number of new over 65s outnumbered children and young people by a ratio 15 to 1.
In contrast, the ratio of new over 65s to children and young people in towns and cities in the North and West Midlands was 3 to 1 and in London 2 to 1, with the combined growth in older people in these areas 400,000.
Analysis for CCN shows that if the Government had implemented a new funding formula for social care services the Government previously developed as part of its long-promised reforms, county and rural councils would be receiving at least £440m additional funding each year.
This is because the formula that currently distributes funding fails to take into account the growth in those over 65s since 2011 and the increased demand for services in county and rural areas.
But county leaders are warning the underfunding of care services could become dramatically worse over the next decade, exacerbated by the ‘boom’ in rural elderly populations and disproportionate impact of adult social care reforms.
A recent report for CCN showed the social care funding reforms could leave county and rural councils with a funding deficit of £7.6bn over the next decade. CCN warns that unless the Government provides more funding and changes the way it allocates resources between councils this could mean the quality and accessibility of care is worsened further in these areas.
With the Government expected to announce a funding consultation later this month to determine the distribution of council funding to implement the reforms, CCN is calling on the next Government to fully fund the reforms and implement a new formula to ensure county and rural areas receive a fair share of resources.
Visit the CCN website to download the report on population trends in counties.
In other news, The National Care Forum (NCF) is calling on the conservative leadership contenders to put social care at the very centre of their policy agendas and to reaffirm their commitment to its reform.