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Gordon Lishman‚ Director General of Age Concern‚ said:

"This report is shocking and clearly shows that local authorities are failing to address the needs of our ageing population. It is hugely worrying that funding for services to keep older people active and socially engaged has been cut in many areas.

"Social exclusion among older people is a significant and pressing problem that will not disappear without urgent action by local and national government. A cross-departmental government commitment is urgently needed to help the most disadvantaged older people. Local authorities must also work much harder to age-proof local services and community programmes‚ and ensure their services are joined-up‚ user-friendly‚ rooted in the community and flexible enough to reach out to vulnerable older people.

“Of course the provision of acute social care services is absolutely vital but local authorities must not use that as an excuse to ignore the vast majority of older people who are in need of preventative support and services.”

 

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Notes to editors

• 1.5m older people who need care either aren’t getting any support or aren’t getting enough‚ although 1‚050‚000 of them are thought to get at least some informal care.  Most of these people have low or moderate needs which councils are saying they cannot afford to support (source: CSCI‚ 2008).
• 1.2 million people over 50 are severely socially excluded (facing exclusion in three or more areas of their life): 400‚000 aged 50-64‚ 360‚000 aged 65-79‚ and 400‚000 aged over 80 (source: Social Exclusion Unit‚ Jan 2006).
• Age Concern published its report Out of sight‚ out of mind on social exclusion among older people in Feb 2008. Please contact Helen in the ACE media team for a hard copy and/ or further information‚ or download the report free of charge from our website.